The National Association of Software and Services Companies on Friday said it would ask the government to liberate higher professional education by allowing investments -- key to creating facilities that attract people from India and abroad.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function to release the Nasscom-McKinsey Report 2005 on the IT and BPO industries, he said: "We certainly need some loosening up, at least on an experimental basis (in professional education)."
"I am not saying you suddenly throw open the education sector. (But) we need to see whether we can liberate it, particularly higher professional education, from all the constraints it is tied up with today," Karnik said.
"We should see if there is such a demand, can we get people -- as in the case of infrastructure -- to invest in high quality institutes that provide high quality education to large numbers and make it a viable proposition."
Karnik said when commercialisation and corporate entities could be allowed to set up hospitals, "what is the hesitation in allowing investment in the higher education sector? Let the market forces play."
"In the KG (Kindergarten) level, if you want admission, you have to pay a few thousand rupees. There is no control there. So why should there be curbs only for professional education when the return on investment of the student is by far the highest."
At least on an experimental basis, the government should allow those who are willing to pay what the teachers deserve, charge the students for what the market would bear and provide the curriculum the industry needs and set up facilities that attract people from India and abroad, he said.
On seed funding for IT start-ups, Karnik said there was 'some seed funding,' but it was 'very little.' "Seed funding like everywhere else does not take off because the risk is higher."
He said the government could create a seed fund -- with Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) to start with -- to ensure that the investors had a 'little back-up' and were able to take 'greater risks.' "We had informal discussions with the government. We would like this to happen," Karnik said.