Public-Private Partnership: Studying Role of ICT in Higher Education (with Reference to Tourism) Taxak R.H.1,* Professor, Department of Tourism and Hotel Management, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India. *Email: rhtaxak@kuk.ac.in
“In future education, we need not bind ourselves by either the ancient or the modern system, but to select only the most perfect and rapid measure of mastering knowledge”- Sri Aurobindo11 Abstract Education is considered as an important input in the development and modernisation process of our society. In a way, education in future is bound to be pluralistic and man is going to be engulfed in specific quest for knowledge. Future education is a new movement rooted in trans-disciplinary methodology, preparing the present for the future, organising the present to leap into the future and converting the individual into a useful citizen, etc. Though, there has been tremendous expansion in education, since independence, but still many have been deprived off taking its benefit. Government of India took a bold step in this direction by passing of the 86th Amendment to the Constitution of India in 2002, the constitutional amendment has provided for free and compulsory education of all children in the age group of 6 to 14 years as a fundamental right under article 21A of the Constitution, in such a manner as the State may, by law, determine.1 Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are an important option that can be utilised in times of economic uncertainty and in periods of prosperity. There is a nexus between the public sector's needs and the private sector's goals. Local and state governments, particularly in today's challenging economic times, need to find innovative ways to improve infrastructure that makes sense to the taxpayer2. There is no widely accepted definition of a PPP. In broad terms, PPP refers to an arrangement/agreement/contract between the public and private sectors with clear agreement on shared objectives for the delivery of public infrastructure and/or public services.
The Government of India defines PPPs as: ‘A partnership between a public sector entity (sponsoring authority) and a private sector entity (a legal entity in which 51% or more of equity is with the private partner/s) for the creation and/or management of infrastructure for public purpose for a specified period of time (concession period) on commercial terms and in which the private partner has been procured through a transparent and open procurement system’.3 Consideration of the formation and use of PPPs is especially relevant in many countries when the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the education for variety of reasons, two of the most common reasons are that governments give in support of the use of PPPs in this area are related to cost and financing issues, and the perception that competence and experience in new, ‘innovative’ areas like the use of ICTs is best found in the private sector as compared to government.4 Some of the most interesting and varied cases of PPPs to support the use of ICTs in education can be found in India. India is currently exploring how to equip all of its secondary schools with computer labs, and discussions of the appropriate use of PPPs in this process are an explicit part of this exploration.5 As India moves forward with its plans to increase the use of ICTs in its education sector through a variety of public–private sector partnerships, it would do well by studying the Rajasthan experience, for PPPs of this sort are complex undertakings. Through this paper author intends to discuss the nature of PPPs in education, need and rational of PPPs in education, type of PPPs used in education and role of ICT in implementation of PPPs in education. Top Keywords Public–Private Partnership, ICT, Higher Education, Tourism. Top |