Political Fight in India Raises Questions About Academic Credentials

Does the head of a country’s higher-education system need a college degree?

That question is dogging the government of Narendra Modi, India’s newly elected prime minister. On Monday, Mr. Modi chose Smriti Irani to lead India’s Ministry of Human Resource Development, which oversees the country’s colleges and universities.

A former actress, beauty-pageant contestant, and member of Parliament, Ms. Irani enrolled in a correspondence course at the University of Delhi but completed only part of a program to earn a bachelor’s degree in commerce, according to Rediff, an Indian news and entertainment website.

Ajay Maken, a member of a political party that’s a rival to Mr. Modi’s, scoffed at her lack of academic qualifications. “What a Cabinet of Modi? HRD Minister (Looking after Education) Smriti Irani is not even a graduate!” he wrote on Twitter.

The tweet stirred up a political storm, with Ms. Irani’s fellow cabinet members defending her abilities.

At least one education expert has sought to use the dustup to question the true value of academic credentials, a point that will sound familiar to those in the United States debating competency-based learning.

“This is about the sad conflation of degrees and competence when degrees themselves are not designed around competencies,” wrote Meeta Sengupta, an education consultant, at DNA India, an online newspaper. “Degrees may be the proof of certain learning, but they do not represent the sum total of knowledge, skills, and attitudes—each of which are required to be successful in a job.”