I had gone to Jaipur for a conference on the Political Economy of Competition and Regulation in India. Well as part of my plans I also decided to meet a friend of mine from school after some 16 years. She was the hardworking studious girl who topped class and did all the “right” things, got her medicine degree both  graduate and post graduate from the best medical schools of Delhi. Standard story of how family compulsions got her to Jaipur and she thought of taking a teaching job at a private medical college.

Not that I am not aware of what has happened in South of Vindhyachals with the mushrooming of private institutes of higher education. But when she gave me a first hand insight on  how these sleazy operations are run, I was aghast.

A weak regulatory system and the tyranny of the political class and other vested interests in higher education has lead to the capture of the professional education space by pan chewing business men, politicians and goondas. At the risk of sounding wayward and rude it is quite a learning experience to meet some of the governing body members of these institutes. How huge sums of money are collected in the name of ” management” seats  is well known and was reported extensively in the news papers also recently. She informed me how huge sums of money are collected in the name of capitation fees: “as much above the table as under “…she said. Talk about conflict of interest the regulator i.e. the Medical Council of India finds representation in the governing bodies of these private colleges.

This was all ok but what saddened me is the outright corruption in education delivery and the collusion of the regulators in this exercise. Also the perverse incentives it creates.  My next question to her was about her salary; out of curiosity I wanted to know how different it was from the regular university salary.  She informed me she was very happy with the compensation.  She also said that life was good as she got a neat packet of money delivered to her at her doorstep every month for the past one year, a rate negotiated between her and the MC. She also says she does not have to teach. I said what…so you just supervise practicals given that you have a MS. She says no the arrangement is very good as the deal is that she has her name on the formal faculty list and the only thing she has to do is to appear occasionally as and when the inspection committee visits the medical college. This way she can give time to herself and family.

The rant above can be pushed aside as a sordid tale of an individual who has perhaps made some moral compromises for the sake of her family but I am told that this is quite rampant in the private engineering and medical colleges across the country. Faculty is acutely short after all where will the supply come from? Rent-Seeking is rampant and the regulatory system has failed and created such perverse incentives. What a waste of talent and the system allows it!! I then understood the Political Economy of Regulation in India in a sector that I think is very crucial for India and this will decide our future, otherwise we will remain the clerks to the world as Philippines is the provider of nannies to the world. Not a growth path that will take us beyond another new Hindu rate of 6-7 percent.

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Tags: Higher education, private sector

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 3:21 pm and is filed under Indian Economy, Policy, Regulation and Competition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.