Former director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, Prof V Ramgopal Rao has advocated for a “Study Now- Pay Later” inspired financial model for publicly funded universities in India. Rao, in a tweet, said that with the expansion of higher education in India, the model of grants for public universities in India was not feasible and an alternate source of financing was needed. “Institutions need to have a diversified financial model for the sustenance of their activities growth and excellence,” his post read.
He said that the present government grant model must take into account the number of students, the cost of education in the institutes, competitive research grants earner, patents filed, royalty earned and other such factors should also be considered while deciding on the grant for HEIs.
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Rao added that a “Study Now- Pay Later” scheme similar to the Australian Higher Education Loan Programmes (HELP) could be one of the options. HELP are interest-free loans given to students for completing higher education. The former IIT director added that the scheme was “excellent” and must be considered for higher educational institutions in India.
While the loans are usually interest-free, the outstanding amount is indexed annually by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to maintain the real value of the debt. The borrower of loans under HELP are required to repay their loans only when their taxable income reaches a certain threshold. The rate at which the debt is repaid rises according to the taxable income, he added.
My views on evolving a financial model for publicly funded institutions in India. Read my post below and see the chart about the revenue models of other leading world institutions. We need look at the Australia’s HELP model. @EduMinOfIndia @dpradhanbjp @PMOIndia @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/jpk81y0ert
— V. Ramgopal Rao, Ph.D. (@ramgopal_rao) July 13, 2022
In an earlier post, Rao had slammed private universities for paying their faculties poorly. “Faculty salaries in private universities is an issue that needs to be addressed in India. Vast campuses, fancy buildings and TV commercials don’t make a great #university. It’s the #FACULTY. Most of them aren’t even paying 7th pay commission salaries, which is atrocious,” he tweeted. Tagging the official pages of UGC, Rao requested a uniform paying standard should be enforced to ensure that quality faculty is available in private universities as well.
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