The technical higher education market dissected 

News: During the past two years, the higher education technical institutions have seen a drop of 18.3% and 6.01% in the number of institutions and intake capacity, respectively. 

Background of technical higher education 

Much of the growth in technical higher education has been after 1991, when the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) became functional. 

Between 1961 and 1991, the number of technical higher education institutions increased five times (53 to 277) and the enrolment increased Six times. Most of this growth has been in the government sector.  

Between 1991-2020, the institutions have gone up by 40 times and the intake capacity rose 15 times to touch 32.85 lakh. Much of this expansion has been in the private sector. 

What are the issues? 

Supply exceeds demand: The total demand (based on number of students appearing in NEET, JEE etc,) for technical higher education appears to be more than overall available seats. Therefore, a large number of technical institutions are unable to fill their sanctioned seats. Their capacity utilisation is falling which stands at 53.53% in 2020-21. 

The AICTE prescribes a minimum specific student-teacher ratio (STR), ranging from 7.5 to 20. However, the majority of the institutions are unable to admit students. Therefore, their STR has gone down from 5.5 in 2012-13 to 3.0 in 2020-21 due to inadequate admissions. 

Due to lower STR, these institutions are threatened by lack of economic sustainability. This has a negative impact on the creation of quality infrastructure and human resources. 

In order to increase admission, the institutions demand for relaxation in the eligibility criteria for admissions. For example, relaxation in minimum percentage of marks in the school board, condition of studying science and mathematics at the intermediate level in schools, etc.  

The technical higher educational institutions are differentiated and highly hierarchical. For example, the IIT, the NIT, the IIIT, etc. among others are the most sought after.  

The high-quality private institutions resort to an exploitative pricing policy. They charge high fees. After all, the Veblen Effect (what is expensive is perceived to be excellent) also works in higher education institutions.  

Way Forward 

The AICTE should provide a broad framework and guidelines for determining the permissible level of fees. Then, the State-level fee fixation committees should work. This would be in the true spirit of federalism which expects States to be a responsible partner in the process. 

AICTE Act mandates it “to take necessary steps to prevent commercialisation of (in) technical education”. 

The AICTE should take all such steps for the coordinated and integrated development and maintenance of standards. 

Source: The post is based on an article “The technical higher education market dissected” published in the “The Hindu” on 17th May 2022.