Liberalise Education ...

A world reowned Finance Educational Institute whose degree/qualification is recognized worldwide raises objection to another Institution using it's trademarked Degree Name . The Latter institute as a survival tactic claims that the world venerated institute is illegally offering the course in the Country and obtains a Court Order restricting the International Institute from offering the course.Where e Well I am talking of the CFA charter which initially raised objection to ICFAI using the CFA trademark name. So ICFAI turned the table on CFA and asked AICTE( which regulates the Technical education standards in India) to ban CFA from conducting the charter's Examination till further notice as the CFA charter does not have the AICTE approval. AICTE agrees with ICFAI although it is not sure if the CFA degree comes under it's purview and imposes a ban leaving about 2000 students in lurch.

How Sad !! . The CFA is one of the world's largest Financial Chartered body and it's degree is recognized everywhere in the world. In fact the top honchos in many of the Investment Banks and Equity Research firms in India and world are CFAs.And given that India today is opening all the sectors for Foreign Direct Investments and is allowing domestic companies to invest in Hitherto non existent sectors like organized Retail, Micro Finance etc., I wonder why education is being left out.

I am not saying that the government has not done anything but we still have a long way to go. Take for example the Rai University. It is a Private autonomous University which offers all kind of courses. While I can't vouch for Rai's Quality, I know for sure that it will not have many takers in the market . The reason? It is not recognized by UGC ( the Archiac University Grant's Commission) implying that a Undergraduate from Rai University cannot do a Post graduation in any other University in India. ( I heard that Eventually Rai got an Affilation with other Indian university but never a Full university Status)

While I am not vouching for a Free for all pass to create universities, I would like to see something like TRAI(Telecom REgulatory Authority of India) rule over the University System in India and allow other private universities to operate. Remember what liberal educations policy has done to the Singapore ? Today it has become an educational hub of Asia with likes of Insead, France and University of Chicago(Graduate School of Business) having Asia campuses in Singapore . Wouldn't you as an Indian not like to have Stanford University to open it's Asia Campus in Bangalore, India ?

That would be wonderful and will surely give the likes of ISB,IIMs competition on one hand while providing the Indians the opporunity to get world class management Education without having to cross the Atlantic ocean. Hope the day comes pretty soon. Amen.