Pvt varsities rope in service providers for degree programmes

Pvt varsities rope in service providers for degree programmes

Sruthy Susan Ullas

Feb 19, 2025, 23:48 IST

Bengaluru: Several private universities in the state have started taking the help of service providers to conduct degree programmes, especially in new-age fields where their existing faculty don't have expertise. These programmes range from computer science engineering to BBA to BCom.

Face Prep, for instance, which was into campus placement training for over 16 years, started the business of taking over and running degree programmes in 2023, and is expected to touch 28 colleges in the country for the academic year 2025-26. The courses it handles consist of BCA or BSc in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Machine Learning, BCom in FinTech with Artificial Intelligence, and BBA in eCommerce with Digital Marketing.

"We act as knowledge partners, providing end-to-end solutions for colleges. What makes our programmes different from the conventional curriculum is that students will learn hands-on," said Karthik Raja, CEO of Face Prep. In the model Face Prep offers, it forms the curriculum, which is vetted by the college, sets the criteria for admission, and helps in recruiting and training faculty for the programme.

The CEO of another company providing similar services in healthcare courses said: "These are specifically for new-age programmes that universities are not best poised to either invest in developing curriculum for, training faculty, or setting up skill labs. So, they appoint a service provider. We're a training partner that produces industry-aligned modules and provides placement support and internships. For that scope of work, universities appoint us. The exams, assessment, and award of degrees are done by the colleges."

"For skill-based education, UGC (University Grants Commission) specifically allows universities to appoint a training-cum-placement partner. We help them in curriculum development by bringing industry-side modules, bringing experts from the industry, and setting up skill labs at our own cost," he added.

‘Undervalued profession'

The fact that universities are forced to take the help of service providers is mainly on account of lack of expert faculty, said Rajesh Kumar, CEO and co-founder of Kalvium, which runs computer science engineering programmes in 17 universities, with 13 more in the pipeline for the next academic year.

"The reliance of universities on service providers emerges from the fact that teaching and learning as a profession is extremely undervalued, and the quality of teachers has dipped. This is particularly true in cases like engineering because of the job potential it holds. Hence, there is this move towards partnering with third parties to offer programmes. While PG programmes by service providers have been in practice for some time, UG is just picking up pace now," he said.

"While UGC doesn't permit outsourcing programmes, these service providers act as skill providers, which is permitted by law. This is the space that is being explored by the companies," explained another company CEO working in the domain.

One of the reasons these premier institutions partner with us is the kind of curriculum we've been able to design, which is fairly evolved and advanced compared to what the traditional university system is able to offer

— Rajesh Kumar | CEO & co-founder, Kalvium