Students seek transparency in admissions
Mumbai: As the state gears up to pass a law on admissions and regulation of fees in private professional colleges, student organisations feel that little is being done to bring about transparency in the entire admission process.
On Sunday, the Forum Against Commercialisation of Education (FACE) organised a seminar to discuss the draft billMaharashtra Private Professions Educational Institutions (regulation of admissions and fees) Bill 2008that the state is proposing to introduce in the winter session. The draft bill proposes the setting up of a regulatory body to oversee admissions and determine fees. At least 40% members of this body should be made of students and parents, said FACE president Vivek Korde.
He said apart from having just one common entrance test for admissions to government and private colleges, the state was not deviating drastically towards a better admission and fee determination process. To this, Rajesh Jain, a member of Parents Association of Medical Students, said the state was not keen to set up a centralised admission procedure.
If there is one test, why cant the state conduct admissions to both government and private colleges. Moreover, why is the state silent on deemed universities? he added.
On the fee issue, members of FACE said they said government was doing little to bring about transparency in the process. Why cant the governments fee-fixing body put up accounts that private colleges submit for determining the annual fees? asked Milind Wagh, FACE secretary and an associate professor at Nashiks NDMVP College of Pharmacy.
Every year, private professional institutions submit their audit accounts to the state so that fees of individual colleges can be determined based on their expenditure and income. However, currently, the state does not make these documents public. Wagh also suggested that the state determine an upper limit on fees.
Advocate Madhav Jamdhar said he had come across several cases in which colleges show inflated expenditures. When an inspection committee visits a college, equipment, instruments and computers from all neighbouring colleges land up there so that the management can impress the visiting team, added Jamdar.