COMMENTARY

(Trow 1973) by the last decades of the

Public Funding for Research in 20th century (Altbach et al 2009). By the
turn of the century, a larger part of the
Higher Education world entered the stage of massification,
except for some of the countries in Asia
The Perspective of Equity and Diversity and sub-Saharan Africa.
During the first decade of the 21st cen-
tury, India entered a stage of massifica-
Malish C M tion of higher education. According to
the All-India Survey of Higher Education

K
Recent government policies for nowledge and human capital (AISHE) 2018–19, the gross enrolment
promoting research are aimed at produced by the higher educa- ratio (GER) in India stood at 26.3% with
tion sector is a crucial determi- 37 million students enrolled in close to
making India globally competitive
nant of growth of the national economy. 993 universities, 40,000 colleges and
in an era of knowledge economy. It is not surprising that concerted efforts 10,725 stand-alone institutions (MHRD
Against the backdrop of the have been made by the union govern- 2019). However, the GER in higher edu-
National Education Policy 2020 ment to leverage the advantages of the cation in India stands below developed
knowledge economy and reap the bene- countries and is lower than the world
and the draft National Science,
fits of India’s demographic dividend. The average. For instance, in 2013, while the
Technology and Innovation Policy National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 GER in India was 21.1% (MHRD 2013), that
2020 for enhanced public funding (MHRD 2020) and the draft National for the world, North America and Western
for developing the research Science, Technology and Innovation Pol- Europe, and Central and Eastern Europe
icy (NSTIP) 2020 (DST 2020) place a major was 32.9%, 76.6%, and 71.4%, respec-
ecosystem in higher education
emphasis on research in higher educa- tively (Marginson 2016).
institutions, this article discusses tion institutions (HEIs) and propose new As previous education policies were
how public funding can be better funding mechanisms to promote rese- not in favour of the expansion of higher
utilised for the promotion of arch and innovation. The National Re- education (Varghese 2015), the proposal
search Foundation (NRF) is a new fund- of NEP 2020 to expand higher education
research and inclusive expansion
ing mechanism proposed by the NEP to reach a GER up to 50% by 2035 could
of higher education. 2020. It is argued that inclusion of equity be seen as a major deviation from the
and diversity perspectives in matters of past policies. Currently, the private sec-
research funding can be an important tor is a major player in higher education
strategy to maintain the accountability in India. Around 78% of colleges are in
of public funding and channelise funds the private sector in India, contributing
to those HEIs that serve students and to 66% of the enrolment (MHRD 2019).
teachers drawn from diverse socio-eco- Persisting social inequality and widening
nomic, regional, linguistic, and cultural regional and income inequalities in ac-
backgrounds, reflecting the diversity of cessing higher education are major ob-
the country. stacles for envisaging an inclusive sys-
tem of higher education and hence an
The Global Knowledge Economy inclusive society in the future (Varghese
Higher education has become a necessary et al 2018; Tilak and Choudhury 2019).
level of education to participate and take While the advantaged strata largely occu-
advantage of the opportunities opened py “elite institutions” and most sought-
up by the knowledge economy. There- after subjects such as engineering, medi-
fore, the level of enrolment in higher ed- cine, and management, the larger share
ucation in general and that in doctoral of disadvantaged students are enrolled
studies in particular are indicators of in arts, sciences, and social science disci-
improving national capacities and glob- plines of “non-elite” public universities
al competitiveness. Since the 1960s, de- and affiliated colleges (Sabharwal and
veloped regions of the world witnessed a Malish 2018). This has serious implica-
Malish C M ([email protected]) teaches at massive expansion of higher education, tions on inclusive growth.
the Ashank Desai Centre for Policy Studies, and many of those countries reached the Despite the commendable growth in
Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay.
advanced stage of “universalisation” overall enrolment, the share of students
14 juLY 22, 2023 vol lViii no 29 EPW Economic & Political Weekly
 COMMENTARY

enrolled in PhD programmes is low in Organisation (DRDO). In social sciences, Commission (UGC) for minor and major
India. Total number of students enrolled establishment of research organisations, projects is confined to those HEIs (both
in research degree programmes such as for instance, the Indian Council of Social government and government aided)
PhD (1,69,170), MPhil (30,692), and inte- Science Research (ICSSR), further accel- which are included under Sections 2(f)
grated PhD (3,880) is 2,03,742 which is erated the growth of research outside and 12(B) of the UGC Act, 1956. Accord-
equivalent to 0.54% of the total enrol- the university sector. The R&D spending ing to AISHE 2018–19, only 9,755 colleges
ment (MHRD 2019). In 2018–19, the total by universities remains very low in India. are eligible to receive research funds from
number of PhDs awarded was 40,813. Contribution of the university sector to the UGC, which are less than one-fourth of
The share of student enrolment in PhD total R&D spending in India is only 6.3% the colleges in the country (MHRD 2019).
programmes in science, engineering and as compared to other countries such A few of the public entities such as the
technology, social sciences, languages, as Russia (9.8%), the US (13%), France Department of Science and Technology,
and medicine are 26%, 24.8%, 09.9%, (22.1%), and the United Kingdom (25.8%) however, fund public as well as private
6.7%, and 4%, respectively. Poor enrol- (UIS 2021). All of these insights point HEIs for carrying out research.
ment in PhD programmes is not favour- towards the need to promote research The NEP and the NSTIP propose new
able for developing a strong and vibrant in HEIs. funding mechanisms for promoting rese-
research and development (R&D) system. arch in HEIs. According to the NEP, the
It is noteworthy that 97.5% of the PhD Mechanisms for Funding NRF is an autonomous agency which
enrolment is in universities, particularly Research in HEIs would work in coordination with the
public universities. As Varghese (2020: Research is part of the core activities of existing funding agencies and follow a
303) notes, “Private universities have yet HEIs, although the thrust for research is competitive and peer-reviewed process
to establish their presence in the area of not uniform across HEIs. In addition to of funding. It aims to transform “quality
doctoral programmes.” In 2018, only 13% research carried out by students for the and quantity of research” across the dis-
of doctoral studies were carried out in fulfilment of degrees, teachers in univer- ciplines and streams and enable a “culture
private universities (Varghese 2020). In sities and colleges are also engaged in of research” in HEIs. The union budget
other words, despite the inexorable pres- research activities. Research is conduc- for FY 2021–22 allocated `50,000 crore
ence of private players in higher educa- ted independently or as a collaborating to the NRF to spend for a period of five
tion, public universities make the most team involving teachers and researchers years (MoF 2021). Some of the commen-
significant contributions in developing from own institutions and other HEIs. tators, particularly those who belong to
the pool of researchers in India. Research-related outcomes are a major the private sector, tend to visualise the
determinant of career progression for NRF as a means to bring parity in re-
Research in Higher faculty members. Compared to research search funding for the public and pri-
Education Institutions in humanities and social science disci- vate sector. However, as the call for app-
R&D spending as a share of the gross do- plines, research in science and techno- lications has not yet been announced,
mestic product (GDP) is an important logy disciplines is expensive due to high- we need to wait to know more about the
indicator of growth of research and er costs of latest equipment, materials, process and eligibility criteria for dis-
innovation. According to the United and setting up of laboratories. Research bursing funds.
Nations Educational, Social, and Cultural collaboration is more dominant in sci- Similarly, the major goals of NSTIP are
Organization’s Institute of Statistics (UIS ence and technology disciplines than to double the number of full-time equiv-
2021), India’s R&D spending stands at 0.7% humanities and social sciences. alent researchers and gross expenditure
of the GDP, compared to that of South Funding sources for research carried on R&D in five years. The NSTIP proposes
Africa (0.8%), Brazil (1.3%), China (2%), out in HEIs can be government and non- a new collaborative funding model
the United States (US) (2.7%), Germany government agencies. In addition to called advanced missions in innovative
(2.9%), Japan (3.4%), South Korea (4.2%), ministries and departments at the union research ecosystem (ADMIRE). This hy-
and Israel (4.3%). India’s position is at and state governments such as the DST, brid funding model would support pub-
the bottom of the list in terms of R&D there are a number of autonomous and lic and private enterprises, academic
spending among the BRICS countries. independent public-funding agencies institutions, and the non-governmental
R&D in India takes place in universi- such as the Indian Council of Medical sector. Creation of higher education
ties, stand-alone government-funded Research, ICSSR, CSIR, Indian Council of research centres and collaborative rese-
research organisations and industrial Agricultural Research, Indian Council of arch centres, as joint initiatives of HEIs,
research laboratories (Bhargava 2016). Historical Research, and Indian Council R&D institutions, and industry sectors,
Much of the public spending on R&D is in of Philosophical Research, to list a few. are among the other strategies to promote
non-university sectors such as govern- Many of them have a narrowly defined research and innovation in HEIs. Teach-
ment-owned research organisations and disciplinary focus. Moreover, not all HEIs ing–learning centres would also be cre-
laboratories such as the Council of are eligible to receive public funding ated in HEIs to provide research-based
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) from these agencies. For instance, re- capacity building for faculty members
and Defence Research and Development search funding by the University Grants of HEIs. ADMIRE also envisages HEIs to
Economic & Political Weekly EPW juLY 22, 2023 vol lViii no 29 15
COMMENTARY

engage with non-higher education sectors would remain as assets for the institu- programmes such as post-matric schol-
for research and innovation activities. tions. Academic benefits from research arships, stipends, and hostel schemes.
studies directly contribute to the profes- Public universities produce a major share
Research and Social sional growth of faculty members and of PhDs in India and make a substantial
Accountability thereby student learning. Research would contribution to the national research ca-
The nature of higher education and also contribute to ranking and accredita- pacity. Against the backdrop of the pro-
knowledge produced as a public good is tion scores and thereby the academic posed new funding mechanisms for re-
the major rationale for continued public prestige of HEIs. This, in turn, will posi- search in HEIs, it is argued that the inc-
investment in research. Social accounta- tively impact student admissions. In a lusion of the perspective of equity and
bility can be seen as an important con- nutshell, research funding is attached diversity in research funding should be
cept here. As Trow (1996: 310) notes, with many direct and indirect benefits an important policy strategy for main-
“Accountability is the obligation to re- to HEIs and their clientele. Therefore, taining the public accountability of pub-
port to others, to explain, to justify, to which institutions would receive public lic funding for research. Espousing and
answer questions about how resources funds is very important. enacting values of diversity and equity
have been used, and to what effect.” As Many commentators have cited exam- are critical for breaking the vicious circle
autonomy in teaching and research is ples of the system for liberal public fund- of educational inequalities in HEIs, there-
the foundational feature of higher edu- ing for research as followed in the US. In by reducing inequalities in development.
cation, who is the “other” to whom HEIs the US, private HEIs are also eligible to Moreover, an equity and diversity per-
are obliged to report is a big question. receive funding from the NSF, an inde- spective would enable funding agencies
Accountability can be, on the one hand, pendent federal agency for the promo- to incentivise those institutions that
classified into external and internal tion of research in science and engineer- serve the masses and the deprived sec-
accountability, and on the other, legal/ ing. It is very important to note that tions of the society. Quality research in
financial and academic accountability private institutions in the US such as those institutions can also lead to an im-
(Trow 1996). Harvard University, California Institute provement in teaching–learning and
At the level of fund disbursal, prioriti- of Technology, Massachusetts Institute overall quality, public funding for re-
sation of research areas is an important of Technology, etc, are committed to the search needs to be located in a larger
measure of social accountability. For ins- policy of equity and diversity in student context of institutional reforms for equi-
tance, the ICSSR had a list of priority admissions and faculty recruitment. They ty and quality in HEIs. Perhaps, more re-
areas of research such as gender, caste, make efforts to ensure that their student search-based capacity development may
and social exclusion. Similarly, a recently and faculty profiles reflect social diver- be required to promote research in those
launched scheme called Impactful Policy sity. For instance, according to Forbes institutions admitting students from di-
Research in Social Sciences (IMPRESS) (2020) America’s Best Employers for Di- verse and underprivileged backgrounds.
promotes policy-relevant research in versity Survey 2020, in the education In a nutshell, the inclusion of the per-
certain identified domains. In this pro- category, five out of the top 10 employers spective of equity and diversity in public
cess, funds are allocated to promote res- are private universities. funding for research in HEIs would act as
earch in those areas. This prioritisation On the contrary, elite private HEIs in a measure of social accountability and
can be progressive when funds are ade- India predominantly serve the elite uphold the vision and foundational prin-
quately pumped into research that dire- socio-economic strata. Most of them are ciples of NEP and NSTIP aiming to build
ctly contributes to the welfare of disad- not committed to equity, inclusion, and an inclusive society.
vantaged groups and the overall socio- diversity, adding to the widening of ine-
economic development in the country. quality in accessing higher education, a References
The very act of prioritisation involves major hindrance to envisage an inclu- Altbach, Philip G, Liz Reisberg and Laura E Rum-
some inclusion and exclusion criteria. sive society. Therefore, bringing in the bley (2009): Trends in Global Higher Education:
Tracking an Academic Revolution, a report pre-
Therefore, the negative aspect of prior- US case to support liberal research pared for the UNESCO World Conference on
itisation is exclusion of certain domains. funding in India needs to be seen with Higher Education.
It can also adversely affect the autonomy adequate caution. Bhargava, Pushpa M (2016): “Scientific Research
and Economic Development,” Social Change,
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tems of Higher Education,” Journal of Higher
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MHRD (2013): “All India Survey of Higher Educa- Institute of Educational Planning and Adminis- UIS (2021): “UIS.Stat,” http://data.uis.unesco.org/.
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