Autonomy :Stepping Stone for World Class Research Universities

Publicly funded institutions in most developed countries enjoy high levels of autonomy, with minimal interference by the government in governance of these institutions. This brings home the fact that to be world class, research universities need greater autonomy.

Good news about India is that the NEP endeavors making research universities completely autonomous, even to the extent of selecting and appointing their chief executives. Combined with full financial autonomy, as envisaged in the NEP, these changes are sure to usher in a new era in public research universities in India. Need for autonomy of universities and reiteration of the aim of improving global ranking of Indian universities, recently got an impetus from the Supreme Court of India also, which on its December 10 judgment, held that universities have the power to stipulate enhanced level and norms for grant of affiliations.

The top court further observed that in current times, no university can afford to have a laid-back attitude, when their own performance is being measured by international standards and, therefore, the power of the universities to prescribe enhanced norms and standards, cannot be doubted.

Since the universities are ranked on the basis of academic standards they maintain, they should have greater autonomy in all spheres of their working, to pave way for world-class research universities in India.

Md Shadan Zeb Khan

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