Budget for public universities

However, the performance of the universities also needs to be evaluated correctly insofar as utilisation of the available resources is concerned. The process of internal auditing has to be strengthened to ensure accountability and transparency. Recruitment of teachers and other staff members is also reported to have been based on partisan consideration leading to relegation of the merit criterion. And then there is the perennial problem of teachers going abroad and overstaying away from universities to the detriment of higher education in home country. So, the drain on the financial resources is evident. And the universities are not on record for having adopted any effective measure to avoid such unnecessary expenditure.

The finance minister has advised the universities to raise funds from private sources. That is precisely how most universities in the West, especially in the US, are run. But this will depend on proven transparency in terms of current spending and sustainable financial discipline in the universities without which potential donors may not feel encouraged to do their bit in the development of the universities. Moreover, the money donated has to be exempted from tax as an incentive to the promoters of higher education.

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Finally, the question of raising tuition fees has to be reviewed in light of the changed circumstances. This might be a politically sensitive and socially unpopular move, but there is no denying that time is ripe enough for some sort of readjustment of tuition fees. There is no point in being hesitant in this regard considering the ever increasing costs of running a university and the need for tuning into a changing world of knowledge-based societies.

The demand for higher budgetary allocations for the public universities has its point. But they cannot thrive on subsidies only. The universities need to have their own development plans based on fund raising from private as well as their own sources.