University Grants Commission

In light of the National Education Policy, which outwardly emphasises on equity and inclusion, this article critically examines the implication of the professor of practice scheme as announced by the University Grants Commission draft guidelines. It is argued that a dogmatic implementation of such a policy holds the potential of keeping the system of Indian higher education exclusionary. There is a need to contextualise such a policy in the Indian social milieu to make it socially viable in the wake of exclusionary consequences.

The death of Rohith Vemula once again triggered an intense debate on the prevalence of caste discrimination in higher education. Addressing the situation from a legal perspective, the shortcomings of the existing legal norms on caste discrimination become apparent, especially when compared with the regulations on ragging. Effective measures to overcome caste discrimination in higher education are then the need of the hour.

The dissolution of the Planning Commission and expiry of the Twelfth Plan has imperilled the futures of the centres for Women's Studies, and Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy across public universities in India. These centres were borne out of struggles for inclusion and continue to operate at the margins of the academic set-up. A critical appraisal of Women's Studies has been undertaken here to locate its relevance in contemporary times.

The low-cost Aakash tablet and its previous iterations in India have gone through several phases of technological changes and ideological experiments. Did the government prioritise familiarity and literacy about personal technological devices over the promise of quality mass education generated by low-cost devices? 

Anyone concerned with academic standards in Indian universities cannot but be deeply concerned at the ravages wrought by the system of affiliation modelled on the University of London with which we started in 1857. In addition to what we inherited, we have made the system even more dysfunctional. There is no limit to the number of colleges which can be affiliated to a university. Nor have any specific rules to earn the status of affiliation been laid down at any stage. Today there are something like a dozen universities which have more than 300 colleges affiliated to them. Some, though not all, of these universities are otherwise good, but what undermines their standing as a university is that they have to carry the unwanted cargo of a large number of affiliated colleges. The discussion in this paper makes two things clear: one, we have been a victim of the affiliating system for far too long; and two, without a decisive intervention by the centre no change can come about.