Reform in Practice: Sarthak Pradhan (Takshashila Institution) on Deregulating Higher Education

What is one area of regulation in India that should be deregulated?

India has a huge young population. However, in the college going population age, hardly 28% of the population attends college. On top of that, the quality of higher education institutions at India is not great.

Very few are among the top 500, top 1000 globally. So, there seems to be a problem of quantity and quality with respect to higher education in India. And this leads to problems at multiple levels.

For instance, it limits the potential of these people, these individuals. On top of that, the economy gets impacted. As academia's contribution to research and development to innovation is limited, growth potential gets restricted.

In the higher education sector, there exists regulation across different areas. For instance, there are entry barriers. You cannot just set up universities in India.

For instance, there are massive land infrastructure financial requirements. Till recently, in some states, to set up a private university, 100 acres of land was required. Apart from that, there has to be sponsors who are not for profit.

Additionally, there are regulations at multiple layers at multiple levels. So, you need to have approvals, clearances from multiple authorities. Not only do you have entry barriers, there are operational barriers as well.

For instance, in many states, the fees is set up, decided by committees, appointed by the state governments. Also, when it comes to faculty, if you are trying to get non-traditional faculty, again the state has a control. When it comes to admissions, when it comes to sheet sharing, there also the state typically has some regulations.

And colleges that are affiliated to the universities, they also don't have that much autonomy with respect to the curriculum. Third thing, there are also regulations with respect to exits and expansion. The universities, colleges, they can't expand just like that.

And if you have to exit, you cannot just wind up. There are regulatory clearances, there are various legal and financial requirements. As a result of all these barriers, what happens is, there are very few institutions that have or that provide top-notch education.

As a result, there is massive competition for those few seats. Addressing these regulations, reducing these regulations or regulatory cholesterol can help address the demand supply mismatch. There will be more players in the sector.

There will be competition between these players. Different models of providing education can come up. Different staffing models can come up.

Different teaching models might emerge, which can address both the quality as well as the quantity problem.