Apprehensions on Privatization of Higher Education are misplaced: Javadekar

NEW DELHI, MARCH 26: The ‘Autonomy’ granted to several universities in the country will not lead to privatization of higher education in the country, the Union government will continue to support publicly funded higher education institutions.

The Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Prakash Javdekar speaking to PTI has put an end to all the speculations being raised by the academic fraternity. The teachers association of various Universities across the country started to protest after the University Grants Commission granted Graded Autonomy to 60 higher education institutions last week.

Javadekar said, “So all the apprehensions are misplaced; the autonomy will mean freedom to do more research, expansion and take up many other academic initiatives.”

Javadekar said that the Autonomy being granted to several leading Universities, including the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and others, is in no way a step towards “privatization of education” or fee-hikes, and the Union Government will continue to support these educational institutions like before.

He added that the Union government would continue to fund the salaries of the faculty as well as provide other grants.

Last week the UGC granted Autonomy to 52 universities and eight colleges based on their NAAC grade, the list included five Central and 21 State universities.

The HRD Minister said that the autonomy granted will enhance the reputation of our Universities throughout the world, he said.