Privatisation of education good for the

country
PUNE: Notwithstanding the furore over the rising cost of technical education, an
eminent educationist has expressed complete support for privatisation and
liberalisation of the education sector.

Prof N S Ramaswamy, founder-director of Indian Institute of Management,

Bangalore, feels that just as liberalisation has brought in better performance and
productivity in the corporate world, it will bring about greater competitiveness in the
Indian educational sector.

An openness in the education sector and the freedom to charge high fees would
eventually do good to the Indian educational system, Prof Ramaswamy, who headed
the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management, Mumbai, has said.

Speaking to TNN he said that India with its 1,200 engineering institutions and two
lakh teachers has a tremendous potential to become a global destination for technical
education, particularly for students from developing nations.

According to him, what is needed is the creation of world class facilities and the
presence of highly professional and well-qualified faculty. "You will get such
institutions only when you charge high fees as is done in Europe and US," he said. At
the same time, he cautioned that 50 per cent of seats in engineering colleges must be
kept open for poor, meritorious students.

Prof Ramaswamy said that healthcare and education are two sectors where India can
become a world destination. By providing high quality healthcare and highly
professionalised education, India can become a world leader in these sectors and earn
up to $20 billion annually, he said.

Acknowledging that medical and engineering education had become a "money

making racket" today, Prof Ramaswamy said that this corruption was a result of
government control.

"If you have control you will have corruption. There is no way to bring in
improvement without freedom. Let the rich people pay high fees for private
engineering colleges. But also, let 50 per cent seats be open to poor, meritorious
students," Prof Ramaswamy.

He emphasised that the AICTE was working out accreditation and rating system for
private engineering colleges to identify the best institutes in the country. Such a
system, he said, would help curb unprofessionalised institutions whose sole aim was
to unscrupulously make money.

The eminent educationist who founded the Indian Heritage Academy, Bangalore, to
promote ethical values and character-building in educational institutions is here to
conduct a five-day AICTE (All India Council of Technical Education) sponsored
workshop for engineering colleges.

The workshop which was inaugurated by Thermax group chairperson Anu Aga at the
Pune Institute of Engineering and Technology on Tuesday is being attended by
faculty and management representatives from a dozen engineering colleges in the city.

The workshop seeks to stress on upgrading ethical and moral values and improve
competence, leadership and work ethics among the faculty, principals and
management of engineering colleges.

Under its nation-wide programme, the AICTE-sponsored workshop has so far been
held in 90 colleges in the south. After Pune, will soon be held at Bubhaneshwar,
Jaipur and Delhi.