Dr Biju Dharmapalan
Effective policy frameworks are essential for guaranteeing the quality, accessibility, and sustainability of education, which serves as the foundation of a nation’s advancement. Nevertheless, the medical and higher education sectors are frequently impeded by outdated and rigid regulations rather than facilitated by them. The National Medical Commission’s (previously the Medical Council of India,MCI) arbitrary criteria for recognising medical colleges and the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) salary regulations for private institutions are prominent examples of how bureaucratic rigidity can result in unintended consequences. To resolve these concerns and cultivate a more inclusive and efficient education system, it is imperative to implement pragmatic policy reforms.
Rethinking Medical Education Regulations
MCI requires medical colleges to have a certain number of hospital beds and patient load for recognition. Although the goal is to give students clinical experience, this strategy ignores research and innovation in medical education. Modern health care innovations are never taught in our medical institutions as part of the curriculum. Even the most common robotic surgery that is prevalent in private hospitals is not taught in our public sector medical colleges. Instead of focusing on the quality of medical education,the stress is on how many patients are admitted, which is a sad state of affairs.
Digital health technology, simulation-based learning, and telemedicine allow students to develop practical skills without a bed-patient ratio.
Existing laws have led to unscrupulous activities like institutions manipulating inspection figures. Instead of infrastructure-based assessments, medical education policies should prioritise competency-based evaluations, outcome-driven learning, and ethical training. Acknowledging modern pedagogical breakthroughs would improve healthcare and education.
Ideally, governments and medical regulatory bodies should strive to promote preventive healthcare by decreasing the burden of diseases through improved nutrition, hygiene, vaccination, and lifestyle awareness. Nevertheless, the requirement for a high patient burden in medical education implies a reactive rather than preventive approach, one that presupposes a persistent or expanding sick population. This criterion could potentially impede the ability of medical colleges to maintain recognition if society makes genuine strides towards improved health outcomes. This prompts critical enquiries:
Are we indirectly promoting a system that capitalises on illness rather than well-being?
Is it necessary to restructure medical education to prioritise preventive care, public health initiatives, and advanced technology rather than solely focusing on hospital patient numbers?
The primary objective of a progressive medical education system should be to prevent individuals from entering hospitals rather than to overcrowd them. Rather than being penalised for a lower patient count, medical institutions should adapt if public health improves.
Addressing Higher Education Affordability
Another flawed regulation is the UGC’s insistence that private institutions follow government salary scales for faculty. Although it is imperative to provide educators with equitable compensation, the imposition of public-sector pay structures in private institutions without providing financial assistance imposes an excessive burden on these institutions. Private universities are compelled to increase tuition fees, rendering education untenable for many students, as they primarily rely on tuition revenue.
Similarly, the insistence on 40 acres of land as a prerequisite for starting a university is an out dated and impractical regulation in today’s digital era. Most of our public sector universities have the luxury of huge campuses as that was the culture prevailing during that period, and gathering land was not an issue. The present-day situation doesn’t actually need either huge campuses or huge buildings. With online education, virtual labs, cloud computing, and digital libraries gaining prominence, the traditional concept of vast physical campuses is becoming less relevant. A university’s effectiveness should be measured by teaching quality, research output, and student success, and it should be evaluated as per the modern scale, not the size of its campus.
A Call for Data-Driven and Adaptive Policies
Policymakers must adopt a more pragmatic and research-driven approach to regulations in medical and higher education. Instead of one-size-fits-all rules, a more adaptive framework should be developed considering current societal situations, technological advancements, economic realities, and global best practices. Engaging stakeholders-academics, industry experts, and students-would result in policies that genuinely enhance education quality while maintaining affordability and accessibility. The future of education depends on our ability to reform outdated regulations and embrace innovation. Pragmatic policies will not only benefit institutions and students but also contribute to national progress by creating a more skilled, ethical, and competent workforce.
(The author is the Dean of Academic Affairs at Garden City University and an adjunct faculty member at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru.)
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