Our Philosophy Is To Fund And Forget

Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar, who believes that india today’s Best Universities Survey has “earned its name by implementing a robust and credible process of scrutiny”, spoke exclusively to Senior Associate Editor Kaushik Deka about the Centre’s plans to improve university education in the country. Excerpts from the interview.

- Kaushik Deka

Q. What have been the major reforms in the last four years to improve university education?

A. We have given more autonomy to higher education institutes, pushed for research and innovation, improved the quality of education and introduced digital learning. But for results to show, you need time. We are working in the right direction, taking all stakeholders into confidence.

Q. Critics say the government is interfering too much in universities, such as the Jawaharlal Nehru University and the University of Hyderabad.

A. There is no question of interference. Instead, we are creating a mechanism to grant more autonomy. We passed the IIM bill to make these institutes more autonomous. We must trust our best institutes—if we don’t, they cannot grow. Our new philosophy is to fund and forget. Just because the government has funded these institutes, it’s not necessary to regulate them if they are performing well. If they fail to perform, the government has residuary powers to take corrective measures. For other institutes, I introduced graded autonomy—reward the performers so that others get an incentive to perform. Fifteen per cent of the institutes, which have been rated A+, will get 75 per cent of the autonomy enjoyed by the IIMs. We are also finalising 20 institutes of eminence.

Q. Indian universities often fail to find respectable positions in global rankings because of poor research and innovation.