Why They Won’t Come to Teach You From Harvard

Image: Dileep Prakash for Forbes India

RIGHT WAY Rajendra Pawar has challenged old notions with his NIIT University

Since profit is not allowed, people who can grease the system are setting up educational institutes. There are sweet-meat sellers who are purveyors of higher education now. India’s higher education regulations are so stifling that, for the most part, it has only discouraged serious players from getting in. The result: The bulk of the private players in higher education are those who want to make a fast buck. Already, everyone connected to an educational institute makes money using the management company model. Just let it be above board.

The for-profit motive will also allow capital to move in to create different models for different needs. Most students that will form the extra eight million will need decent quality education and at prices that can be recovered within four years after graduation. That might sound heretic in a country where most kids aspire to end up in an IIT or a Regional College of Engineering, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, St. Stephens or a National Law School. The reality is that only two percent of aspirants will end up in those hallowed portals. The rest will have to go to a good college, not great, just good. The world over, and even in India if you include some decent private engineering colleges, such colleges have a good reputation and also make money for their investors.

Since very few countries have had to address a challenge that combines such large numbers and quality as India, the government will have to look at higher education approaches taken by many countries rather than just one. But the models in three countries hold a lot of promise: China, Singapore and Malaysia.

The Experience Elsewhere
Several countries have experimented with foreign universities. Israel lifted the barriers on foreign universities 15 years ago. The country did not have enough capacity for its own students and also didn’t want them to go abroad for higher studies. Education providers from the US, UK and Romania rushed into Israel and set up branch campuses but the quality wasn’t up to the mark. Ultimately, the government realised that the whole sector had become a mess and imposed serious regulations. All the fly-by-night operators exited immediately.

But not every experiment is like Israel’s. Over the years, Singapore and then Dubai tried to create regional educational hubs by attracting top-flight foreign universities to set up campus. Singapore’s model was highly regulated and no one was allowed to enter the country unless the Economic Development Board (EDB) of Singapore invited them and scrutinised them under a series of very strict measures. The Singapore government would then dish out generous grants for research or infrastructure, and also keep tabs on progress. Sure enough, the likes of INSEAD, University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and Cornell rushed to Singapore. While some like INSEAD have done very well, there have been spectacular failures too. Like the University of New South Wales that was setting up a 22 hectare, $200-million campus with a capacity of 15,000 students in Singapore. This would have been the biggest offshore campus that the world had ever seen. It wound up its Singapore plans even before the construction was complete. The reasons: Lack of demand to make the whole project viable. Later on, the Singapore government asked John Hopkins University to shut shop because of quality issues. In comparison, Dubai and Qatar haven’t been quite as successful as Singapore mostly because their regulation isn’t tight enough. So for every London Business School or Carnegie Mellon, there are tonnes of B and C rung foreign universities that have established a presence in Dubai.

Truly Asia
Experts reckon that Malaysia is another country to watch. Malaysia’s situation is somewhat like India: Unlike a Singapore or a Dubai that aspired to become regional education hubs, Malaysia initially allowed foreign universities more to serve the local population. It was only recently that it decided to
focus on becoming a regional educational hub. To make this happen, it set up transparent mechanisms and a regulatory authority called the Malaysian Quality Authority. Malaysia allows for-profit institutions as well. In addition they have a well-structured guaranteed student loan and scholarships regime. This makes sure that the individual Malaysian is supported. “One of the key part of education reform
is making sure that the individual is supported — help them make choices and be able to pay for those choices,” says Sudarshan of Manipal Universal Learning. Manipal, incidentally, was the first foreign entity that was allowed to set up a medical college in Malaysia. Malaysia’s efforts at trying to become a regional hub have started to pay off: Five years back, the total number of non-Malaysians studying there was less than 30,000. This year, it is expected to cross 100,000 and will probably end up crossing 85,000.

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