Repositioning India as a Country of Academic Excellence

A recent study (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, May 2014) suggests that almost two lakh Indian students are currently studying abroad; Australia and the US being the preferred destinations. Surprisingly, Europe is not such a favoured destination any more. This is in sharp contrast to the meagre 28,000 foreign students studying in India. It is thus, no surprise Indian students spend roughly Rs. 45,000 crore on foreign education each year. This is thrice the amount allocated by the Union Budget (2014-15) for higher education.

How it can be started?

India has a robust school system at all levels, and some very fine institutions. However, the growth of such world-class institutions has been underdeveloped for several reasons and prevalent regulatory environments.

Today, with Brand India getting stronger and the social fabric as adaptive as always to foreign cultures, the improvement in the quality of infrastructure—both physical and teaching resources—and the understanding of the financial institutions of funding requirements of educational institutions, India is poised to be the next global education hub. Nevertheless, education in the country needs to have an assessment and evaluation system that is not exam-based but based on assignment, which is a long-standing debate, but this would bring a paradigm shift.

Improving Higher Education sector

The structure of India higher education will have to be regulated. The levels of teaching, science research and social services will have to be greatly improved. India should hold a batch of internationally well known higher education teaching institutions, with their unique features and high quality, close or equal to the best universities in the world.

Demand for higher education has increased dramatically in recent years in India, as it has in other countries across the newly industrialised world. Globally, enrolments have increased more than 50 percent in the past decade and now exceed 150 million worldwide, with more than half of the students coming from emerging market countries. In India, enrolment has grown from 10 million in 2000 to 23 million in 2013. As enrolments have grown, so has interest in improving access and quality. 

Role of Private Education

An education system that includes both public and private institutions may help governments better meet student demand and shift some of the burden of education to private providers. Private institutions, however, are often more expensive than public ones due to the absence of state support.

In India, private institutions are similar to their global peers: they are costlier than public colleges and rely on tuition fees to meet operating costs. Since financial-aid is limited, private institutions focus on providing “job-ready” education, such as engineering and business studies, that students and their families are willing to finance through borrowing from informal sources.

What Technology has to say?

In Education, there is no sphere of our lives that is not touched by the Digital Revolution happening around us. Rapidly evolving technology is transforming the way that knowledge is imparted and absorbed today. The internet now plays a crucial role in the digital educational ecosystem.

Right from K-12 schooling to Higher Education programs, every level of our education system is affected by technology. With increased connectivity, speed and cloud-based storage capabilities, schools and colleges have an enhanced communication network that makes way for improved knowledge sharing.

Mr. Gopal Devanahalli, Senior VP, Manipal Global Education said,” It is extremely important for a working professional to be a continuous learner. Like the World Economic Forum has said, in the next 5 years, 5 million jobs are going to get disappeared and 2 million jobs are going to get recreated in different areas.

“People are focusing on their needs to up skill themselves. Our Learning Management system, however, in the last couple of years have uplifted the use of Technology. They make it very easy for us to give them Short Byte Content or what we call The Micro Learning process”, said the Educationist.

Educationist Amreesh Chandra said,” To be a global education hub, and draw foreign investments and the global student footprint in India, we have to be an open knowledge economy that allows equal participation of foreign education providers. This is the best time for us to open doors to global education providers.” (As told to Financial Express)