GoM for exemptions to foreign univs

The original Education bill had clauses like a corpus of Rs 10 crore as mandatory condition for entry of foreign universities, reports Chetan Chauhan

Published on: Oct 27, 2006, 22:44:00 IST

None | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The revised Foreign Education Providers bill having some exemptions for reputed foreign universities like Harvard is likely to be considered at the Group of Ministers meeting slated for November 1.

According to government sources, the GoM headed by Foreign Minister Pranab Mukerjee has reportedly concurred that a high level expert committee should be constituted to consider proposals of "centres of global excellence".

“The committee will decide what exemptions can be given to the foreign university and will check fly by night operators,” an official said.

When asked whether the exemption will include reservation, the official said, the decision on the issue would be prerogative of the committee. The original bill had stringent clauses like a corpus of Rs 10 crore as mandatory condition for entry of foreign universities.

The GoM has, however, decided that foreign universities will get status of Deemed Universities, thereby bringing them under the fold of government regulation. “It is also a requirement under WTO regulations,” an official said.

The GoM has asked Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal to incorporate the suggestions in the bill and present it before the GoM. Once that is done, the HRD ministry is expected to bring the bill for Cabinet consideration to ensure its introduction in the winter session of Parliament.

A day before the GoM, a committee of secretaries is expected to discuss a proposal of the ministry of Overseas Affairs to allow Special Economic Zones for universities funded by Non-Resident Indians or Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs).

Officials from HRD ministry, Commerce ministry and Planning commission are expected to participate in the meeting.

“The proposal has been revived in wake of SEZ boom in the country,” a Planning Commission official commented.

With the foreign education providers issue to be settled soon, the HRD ministry is looking at a ways to tackle the issues raised by private deemed universities at a meeting with HRD minister Arjun Singh on Thursday.

There were differences between HRD ministry and private deemed university officials over the implementation mode. Universities sought an increase in NRI quota to 15 per cent, autonomy to decide fee and seat structure, allowing more than 54 per cent increase in seats and not enforcing admission criteria for students from the weaker section.

Some universities also wanted government to compensate for rebate envisaged for students from weaker section to prevent general category students paying higher fees.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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