The 21st century India is surely on the move. Today, the country is taking rapid strides in economic growth and modernization, especially furthered by the boom in its Information technology and biotechnology sectors. However, there is a lesser known aspect of this fast developing nation that is very much in need of reform - the country’s higher education sector. The past few years have mutely witnessed a systematic disinvestment in the higher education sector in India, with the result that the country does not have world-class research facilities nor well-trained scholars, academicians or scientists to sustain technological development. On the contrary, some of India's major competitors especially China, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea are significantly investing in large and differentiated higher education systems. These countries are investing millions of dollars on research-based universities that are able to compete with some of the world's best institutions.
Although India has a large higher education sector – in fact, the third largest in the world in student population, after China and the United States - there are very few top-class institutions that provide quality higher education to students. According to reports, India educates around 10 per cent of its young people in higher education when compared with more than half in some of the prominent industrialized countries and 15 per cent in China.
At present, the only world-class institutions that India hosts are mainly the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Moreover, it is a matter of great concern that only two or three institutions in India have the International accreditations such as AACSB (Business Schools) or BET Engineering). Another matter of grave concern in this context is that every year, India loses a brilliant section of its students to developed countries such as the USA/Australia/UK. Instead of contributing their skills to the expanding technology sector in India, a large number of well-trained IIT graduates leave the country soon after completing their graduation to pursue advanced studies abroad. The pathetic fact is that most do not return.
As per the recent international rankings, India lacks world-class universities and educational institutions and Indian academics are rather poorly paid in comparison to their international counterparts, It is to be noted that some of the major hindrances to providing high-quality education or cutting-edge research is the under-investment in libraries, Information Technology, poor infrastructure, laboratories and classrooms.
Today, as India strives to stay ahead in a fast-growing, globalised economy, the quality of higher education has become increasingly significant. In order to compete in the 21st century knowledge-based economy, the nation requires educational institutions that not only produce highly-skilled students but can also support sophisticated, cutting-edge research in various scientific and technological fields.
