Crisis in the University System

Three issues relating to the university system in India have been the subject of intense debate among academics recently. These are the international rankings of our higher education institutions, institutes of eminence and graded autonomy to some Universities. Much of the debate focuses on recent history but, sadly, overlooks the impact of implementation of the recommendations of the Mandal Commission that came into effect in 1992. The implementation has been a spectacular success in terms of providing access to students from such social backgrounds who never hoped or dreamt of it. Independent of social background, students can now take access for granted, thereby transforming the higher education landscape. A manifestation being that it is common to see Ph D students whose parents are daily wage earners or casual labourers, or from families that did not have this kind of access. This has been accompanied by an increase in the number of universities in the country. A situation peculiar to India is the proliferation of colleges with almost no mechanism to regulate their quality.