With none of Indias 700 universities ranked among the global Top 200 league tables published annually by QS, Times Higher Education and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, pressure for abolition of the affiliation system under which Indian universities affiliate 200-800 colleges is intensifying. Under the system, universities provide supervisory and nurturance services to affiliated colleges, conduct common examinations and award the universitys degrees to students of affiliated colleges.However with universities across the country affiliating upto 900 colleges to collect affiliation fees ranging between Rs.15,000-100,000 per year, calls for abolition or temperance of the system, which imposes a huge administration and examination burden upon univer-sities, are becoming more strident. For instance on August 17, G. Vishwanathan, chancellor of the highly reputed VIT University, Vellore called for abolition of the affiliation system, because it leaves little time for university faculty to conduct research. Last year a sub-committee of the Planning Commission recommended phasing out the affiliation system observing that with the University of Pune and Andhra Univ-ersity affiliating over 800 and 725 colleges respectively, the system has become detrimental to the growth of higher education.
The affiliation system roundly condemned by EducationWorld in a major feature seven years ago (EW September 2005), has come into sharp focus with unprecedented student agitations and court strictures against the Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU), earlier known as Nagpur University, which observed its 90th anniversary in August. In June, RTMNU banned student admissions into 250 of its 660 affiliated colleges for not adhering to teacher qualification, staffing and infrastructure norms. However despite the admissions ban, through misleading advertising, the errant colleges enrolled 25,000 gullible students — who are being lectured by unqualified teachers — at the start of the current academic year.
Grouped under the banner of the Maharashtra Rajya Kayam Bina Anudanit Mahavidyalaya Sanchalak Mandal Kruti Samiti, the errant colleges issued a press release stating their students had been admitted of their own free will, and that senior RTMNU offi-cials had assured them the ban would be revoked. However, Dr. Maheshkumar Yenkie, pro-vice chancellor, RTMNU, flatly denies giving any such assurance. The Samiti has misled students while exerting pressure on RTMNU to revoke its decision. But there is no question of our lifting the ban. We have listed the banned colleges on our website and have requested students not to seek admission in these colleges, Yenkie informed your correspondent.
Caught in the crossfire between the Samiti and RTMNU, students who have enrolled in the impugned colleges paying tuition fees ranging from Rs.5,000-50,000, blame RTMNU. The university is playing with our future. We are confused whether the ban will be revo-ked or not. If they have been blacklisted, how are they still functioning? queries Ankush Bhor, third year IT engineering student at Babasaheb Ambedkar College of Engineering, Nagpur.
The Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court reprimanded RTMNU officials on August 13 for inaction against the errant colleges, and for allegedly doctoring the list of banned colleges. Earlier on June 7, the university published a list of 338 disqualified colleges on its website. But within three weeks this list was revised twice and reduced to 250 colleges with 43 claiming to be affiliated with the newly formed Gondwana University (estb. 2012). The others were either erroneously mentioned or had complied with infra-structure norms in the surprisingly short time of three weeks.
You must bear in mind that all these colleges fulfilled the requisite conditions at the time of affiliation and are approved by AICTE (All India Council for Tech-nical Education) and University Grants Commission (UGC); we only provided them with affiliation, says Yenkie.
The root problem of Indias langui-shing universities is that forced to levy pathetically modest tuition fees, to augment niggardly state government grants university managements raise resources by affiliating as many coll-eges as possible. But the huge number of affiliated colleges — 660 in RTMNUs case — makes it impossible for parent universities to supervise and administer affiliated institutions. Moreover the reality that a substantial number of new colleges mushrooming countrywide are promoted by powerful politicians makes disaffiliation of substandard colleges a difficult proposition.
Quite obviously the affiliation system — abolished in the US in 1836 — has outlived its purpose and has to go. Ditto AICTE and UGC which approved the impugned affiliated colleges in the first place. But the National Commission for Higher Education and Research Bill which includes all the above reforms has been pending debate and passage in Parliament for over two years. Meanwhile the watchword of students aspiring to higher education should be caveat emptor (buyer beware).
Sunayana Nair (Mumbai)