Education is the central, focal entity for Indian society. Given the increased complexity with everyone wanting access and equity to education, when it comes to legal structures in the system we have a lot to change,” opines former UGC Chairman Dr Arun Nigvekar.

With Dr Nigvekar heading a committee instituted by the Maharashtra government's Department of Higher and Technical Education, the legal systems that the universities in the state function by, could be in store for major revamping.

Terming this a good exercise that the state government has taken up, Dr Nigvekar said, “Universities must have an open, flexible and transparent legal structure to function well.

The committee will go through all university Acts and ordinances like the Maharashtra Universities Act, 1994, the Maharashtra Prevention of Malpractices Act, 1982, the Maharashtra Education Institutions Prohibition of Capitation Fee Act, 1987, etc. and suggest changes.”

With another committee headed by Maharashtra Knowledge Commission Limited (MKCL) Director Dr Ram Takwale being appointed to study the bifurcation of the Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur universities, Dr Nigevekar said, “Sheer bifurcation without enabling legal structures that allow universities to become a part of the larger canvas of the education system, is meaningless. These inter-linkages thus are very critical.”

Elaborating on the major mandate of these two committees and a third apex committee to recommend improvements in higher education headed by former Atomic Energy Commission of India Chairman Dr Anil Kakodkar, Dr Nigvekar said, “With education being the driving force of the new economy, the strength of a nation depends on how to use knowledge to generate wealth.

So every nation must envisage intricacies and reassess their education system in the light of their past, present and future expectations.”

Highlighting the issues of the Indian education scenario, he pointed out to the interesting chemistry of borderline and advanced economy here with people aspiring to be equipped with skills across the spectrum of classes. “People are more worried about aspirational equity. Cost of education has gone up which means cost of deploying quality education has risen along with the fees. Also unhealthy privatisation of education has raised the premium,” Dr Nigevekar added.

With stalwarts of the academic and scientific communities coming together for creating draft strategies for the three committees, Dr Nigvekar said, “This is a comprehensive exercise and all of us will be working together on this. Dr Takwale, Dr Kakodkar and others, we have been associated for a long time and we think more or less in similar ways and I believe they too have similar views on education.”