Shri Kapil Sibal Meets with Private Higher Education Institutes

The representatives of private higher education institutions met with Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resource Development, here today. In the meeting with the Minister they underlined the requirement of transparency in the education system based on a regime of self disclosure. They also welcomed the Ministry’s initiatives regarding the proposal to set up a National Accreditation Regulatory Authority through legislation introduced in Parliament. They underlined the need to distinguish between higher quality institutes from the ordinary institutions within the sphere of private higher education as at present they are clubbed into one lot with same rules and checks applying to all. They said that quality institutions should have a different yardstick for them from the rest.

The Institutions also made a pitch for the education sector to have access to long term funding at priority landing rates for setting up additional infrastructure. They also appealed to the government to encourage research and Ph.ds in the private sector also, on the lines of the policy for the Government’s higher education institutions. They also said that AICTE could look at some form of a one year MBA programme, as is the practice in some other countries.

Also present in the meeting were Smt. D. Purandeswari, MOS, Ministry of HRD, Smt. Vibha Puri Das, Secrertary (Higher Education) and the representatives of the Manipal Unversity, Manipal, BITs, Pilani, TERI University, New Delhi, Thapar Institute, Patiala, Nirma Institute of Management, Chandlodia, Gujarat, Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Communication, Ahmedabad, XLRI Jamsehdpur, SP Jain Institute of Management, Mumbai, IIIT, Hyderbad, IIIT, Bangalore and DAV Institute of Engineering, Jalandhar.

MV/Hb