Murthy pitches for higher autonomy to educational institutions

IT veteran N R Narayana Murthy on Thursday advocated higher autonomy and less governmental interference in the functioning of educational institutions.

"I think, my own personal view is there should be higher and higher levels of autonomy, government should not interfere in setting up colleges, in running colleges. The market, the society will decide which is a good university, which is not a good university, rather than government mandating," Murthy said.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event organised to announce Infosys Prize 2014 in Bengaluru, he said, "That's where I think the role of AICT and UGC must be reduced and we should provide full autonomy to professors, researchers and administrators of university. Then I think things will improve a lot like it happens in advanced countries."

The Infosys Science Foundation on Wednesday announced the winners of the Infosys Prize 2014 across six categories like Engineering and Computer Science, Humanities, Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences and Social Sciences.

Asked whether he thinks that with the mushrooming of schools and colleges there would be no quality control, and how this can be curbed, Murthy said, "All over the world these things have happened. But it is the market that will determine who is a success and who is not. I don't think government control is what is going to improve this."

"So my view is that instead of trying to curb things, in the beginning there will be certain percentage of people who will take advantage of this freedom. But that's ok. A small percentage of people will suffer. But in the end, we will come out with a system of education, with a system of university, with a system of colleges that are of a better quality than what it is," he said.