Sir — This refers to the editorial, “New architecture” (June 29). Innumerable committees and commissions have been set in the past to improve the standard of higher education in the country. Just changing the structure or replacing the University Grants Commission with any another body is not going to make difference. We need to revamp the entire educational system.
To begin with, accountability is essential. Of late, many universities have sprung up and many institutes have suddenly become universities. In fact, most of these universities are nothing but money minting enterprises. They are just selling degrees. Promoters invest money in such universities to earn money. Although they claim to be not-for-profit, one thing is sure that they operate not for charity.
These universities and colleges demand autonomy without any accountability. Hence, there should be a mechanism to hold them accountable. Similarly, their functioning should be transparent. Information regarding staff qualification, research work, courses available among others should be made available. Some strong measures needs to be taken if we wish to compete with world class education system. Replacing UGC is just an eyewash.