Video explainer: Why students might be worried about the WTO agreement allowing foreign universities into India

Will higher education soon become completely unaffordable? Here's a video from Media Collective that suggests this is just what may happen.

In 2005, as part of the World Trade Organisation's trade negotiations India had offered higher education under "The General Agreement on Trade in Service" or GATS, in effect opening the sector to 161 other member nations. While the results of WTP's latest Nairobi Conference which concluded on 18th December, 2015, are not yet clear, if the agreement under the Doha Development Agenda comes through, India would have opened its higher education sector to international private players. Already, 64 per cent of this sector is in private hands.

But why should this make higher education more expensive? Well, signing the agreement means India has to offer a level playing field to foreign entrants. In other words, all subsidies and other support given to Indian universities must be extended in equal amounts to foreign players.

The obvious conclusion: the government will simply cut subsidies and grants for higher education instead, so that it doesn't have to make matching offerings to foreign institutions.

This, in turn, means students will have to pay for everything, including private sector profits. And that will put higher education beyond the reach of all but the richest. It may also lead to a US-like situation of crippling student debt.

Emphasising that education is a fundamental right, the video asks how it can be subjected to international free trade agreements.

The Occupy UGC movement has been in the news more for the police brutalities on the protesting students and less for the cause of protest. The video above released by a Youtube channel Media Collective explains the impact of the cutting down of scholarships on students.

Many already believe that the decision to cut non-NET fellowships to be an offshoot of this agreement. According to the new plan, scholarships will be available only to the top 15 percent of students who can qualify the NET exam, known for being difficult to pass and for asking strange questions – such as this one:

The NET exam was earlier required to be taken only by students who wanted to teach. But with this new policy, everyone will have to take it if they want to claim a scholarship.

The current government is not believed to be student-friendly. In Budget 2015, the outlay for higher education was slashed. Nandita Narain, president, Delhi University Teachers’ Association is quoted in this report as saying, “Since the government has not routed most of the changes though Bills in Parliament, they are not in public discourse even though they will affect people. There will come a time when only the rich will get teacher taught education in India and the rest will have to opt for cheaper, low quality, online courses. It means most of our young people will be denied quality education. This is intellectual colonisation.”