India to invite bids for technology public-private varsity in rural area

The government, along with the International Finance Corporation, which is a member of the World Bank Group, will soon invite competitive bidding from the private sector to set up a greenfield science and technology university in the country. The university, which will be among the country’s first such institutions to use the public-private-partnership (PPP) model, will come up in a rural area, according to sources close to the development.

The government has agreed to provide subsidy to the party which wins the bid. Moreover, the university will enjoy complete autonomy in terms of operations and curriculum. The subsidy will ensure that the university caters to people from backward classes as well.

“The government is studying five PPP models at present. We have to identify a viable model which would work well in the Indian context. The government cannot fund the entire need for education. It has to be supplemented with priate sector’s participation,” Shakila T. Shamsu, Joint Adviser (Education), Planning Commission had told Business Standard earlier. The resource gap in higher education identified by Planning Commission stands at Rs 220,000 crore, according to a recent Ernst & Young report.

PPP is an approach used by any government to deliver quality services to the public by using the expertise of the private sector. Under this, the private party, under a contract, takes over service delivery. In return, the private party receives a fee from the government according to pre-determined performance criteria. Such payment may come out of the user charges or through the government budget or a combination of both.

For instance, Gujarat — which aims to be a ‘biotech hub’ of the country, led a group of clinical research professionals to collaborate with the Gujarat State Biotech Mission (GSBTM) in setting up the state’s first private-public partnership (PPP) institute for clinical research.

Called ‘Shivrath Centre of Excellence and Clinical Research’, the institute is the brainchild of Shivprakash, director of Ahmedabad-based CRO Synchron and Bhagirath K Patel, director of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Sat Kaival College of Pharmacy in Anand. The institute started operations in June 2008 with its first programme titled Post-Graduate Diploma in Clinical Research.

Recently, the Planning Commission also invited comments from private sector on the PPP model to be followed in school education. Traditionally, it has been the role of the government to provide school education. However, a variety of public private partnerships (PPPs) already exists in this field, the most common being the government aided schools system in the country.

In 2006-07, 30.05 per cent of higher secondary schools and junior colleges, 27.15 per cent of high schools, 6.75 per cent of upper-primary schools, 3.19 per cent of primary schools and 5.15 per cent of pre-primary schools were run by private institutions with substantial financial assistance from the state Governments, indicate data from the Ministry of Human Resource Development.