NCHER is good, but its implementation is the key

BANGALORE: The recent decision of the Union Cabinet to approve the formation of the National Council for Higher Education and Research (NCHER), which will act as a single over-arching independent body to regulate higher education, has received mixed reactions from academicians and industry-watchers. NCHER will subsume existing higher education regulators such as University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Council for Distance Education (CDE) to act as a regulator to oversee universities and institutes providing medical and agricultural cources in various institutions across the state. “If the NCHER is implemented correctly, it will definitely act as a boon for higher education in the country. As India is approaching the 12th five-year plan, there is need for a holistic body to regulate higher education. It is an attempt at bringing about reforms in higher education,” said H A Ranganath, director, National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).The council will be a 70-member body with representation from states and for professional bodies to decide on policy issues. The NCHER Bill proposes to have an  11-member executive committee to implement the decisions of the Council. The question raised here is whether NCHER is the answer to the problems in higher education at a time when decentralisation is the keyword. “We must understand that NCHER is only a recommendatory body. It will not interfere in policy decisions. I was worried about centralisation too. But NCHER’s organisational structure is such that there is no scope for concentration of power,” added Ranganath. One of the many highlights that NCHER proposes is to make the appointment of Vice-Chancellors transparent through a national registry of academicians. “This is what worries me. Maintaining a registry of such large scale is very difficult. The process of appointment of a V-C now is transparent enough. The registry will lead to candidates getting themselves registered, asking to be appointed, which is wrong,” said a Vice-Chancellor of a reputed university. “NCHER is a good move. But we need to look at how the proposed plans would be inflated. NCHER can bring about a federal structure of functioning into higher education. It will dispel the disrepute that many regulatory bodies have earned,” said a senior academician.