Higher and technical education in India

Published on 24 Jan 2025

The term ‘higher education’ with respect to India denotes the tertiary level education that is imparted after 12 years of schooling. This includes undergraduate courses such as bachelor's degrees, postgraduate courses such as master's degrees and doctoral programs, as well as professional courses.

Status of Higher Education in India 

• Coverage:  There are 1,043 universities, 42,343 colleges, and 11,779 stand-alone institutions. 78.6% of colleges are privately managed, of which 65.2% are private-unaided and 13.4% are private-aided.

• Enrolment: The total enrolment in higher education stands at 3.85 crores, and the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), the percentage of students belonging to the eligible age group enrolled in higher education, is 27.1%.

• Availability of teachers: The Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) in universities and colleges is 28.

• Ranking: As per the QS World University Rankings 2023, only three Indian universities have secured a spot amongst the top 200: IISc Bengaluru (Rank 155), IIT Bombay (Rank 172), and IIT Delhi (Rank 174).

Challenges faced by Higher Education Sector in India 

• Low Enrolment: Lack of guaranteed employment and financial pressure limits students from enrolling for higher education, and instead opts for low skilled jobs.

• Example:  As per Ministry of education, the gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education is 24.5 meaning out of every 100 youths eligible for higher education.

• Lack of Specialization: Higher education follows largely linear model with very little focus on specialization. Indian higher education is tilted towards social sciences.

• Example: Only 1.7% colleges run PhD programs and a mere 33% colleges run postgraduate-level programs.

• Foreign Exchange outflow: There has been an increase in migration from India for pursuing higher education. Meanwhile, India has failed to attract foreign students into our institutes. 

• Example: India ranks third in the world in terms of having students pursuing higher education from abroad. However, globally, India occupies the 26th position among the top destinations for international student mobility.

• Veblen Effect: The idea that what is expensive is perceived to be excellent, is as applicable to higher education as it is to luxuries. This leads to an exploitative pricing policy in which HEIs use higher fees as a strategy for brand building. 

• Skill Gap: Technical Education are not adapting their curricula to suit the emerging market demands and the needs of industries and hence it results in a large number of unemployed and underemployed graduates. 

• Regional disparity: The coverage of premium higher educational institutes has not been uniform, with the number significantly low in northeast and eastern India.

• Example: As per the National Institutional Ranking Framework of India 2021, the best colleges in the country are concentrated in 9 of India’s 28 states

• Disparity in Funding:  Bulk of the enrolment in higher education is handled by state universities and their affiliated colleges.  However, these state universities receive very small amounts of grants in comparison.

• Example: Nearly 65% of the University Grants Commission (UGC) budget is utilized by the central universities and their colleges while state universities and their affiliated colleges get only the remaining 35%.  

• Supply exceeds Demand in Technical Education: Institutions are adding more capacity despite declining demand for technical education.

• Example: As per data from Different Entrances, demand for technical higher education is around 20 Lakh while the number of institutions and the intake capacity were 8997 and 30.87 lakh respectively in 2021-22.

Government Initiatives for Higher Education Sector in India 

• Surveys and Rankings: At the National Level to incentivize better performance and induce competition among institutions, best performing Institutions will also be able to garner global attention. 

• Example: National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) and All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE)

• International Outreach: To market India as a global education hub and to attract students, Universities and Investment in the sector.

• Example: Study in India Program, Holding the IIT-Joint Entrance Exam (IIT-JEE) in 25 countries, Setting up branches of IITs in other countries.

• Scholarships: To support vulnerable students to enroll as well as incentivize higher education by meritorious students.

• Example: Pragati Scholarship for Girls, Special Scholarship Scheme for North Eastern Region.

• Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan: A centrally sponsored scheme operating in mission mode for funding the State Government Universities and Colleges to achieve the aims of equity, access and excellence. 

• Expansion of Higher Education: Ministry of Education has announced a new scheme to set up Degree Colleges in 374 Educationally Backward Districts identified via survey.

• Innovation Universities: Central Government has announced to set 14 World Class Universities to enable knowledge talent from around the world to cluster in these universities proposed to be developed as Global Centres of Innovation

• Academic Bank of Credit: Focus on credits earned rather than time on campus. Credits add up to certificates and then a diploma and a degree allowing for multiple entry and exit points. 40% of the credits can be earned from Online Swayam classes.

• Glue Grant: HEIs in the same city can share resources, equipment and allow students to take classes from each other thereby reducing duplication of capacities and building on each other’s expertise. 

Way Forward 

• Effective Coordination and Regulation: Restructuring or merging different regulators like UGC, AICTE, NCTE etc. to ensure better coordination.

• Example: Amend UGC Act to give legislative backing to the regulatory structure.

• Internationalization: Allow Foreign HEIs to operate joint degree programs with Indian Institutions as well as provide autonomy and efficient revenue models to attract investment and world class faculty to raise Indian standards.

• Enhancing Access to Vulnerable Groups: By providing scholarships, reimbursements, placement drives etc. to students belonging to marginal communities.

• Example: Expanding access to cater to geographically underserved areas through Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) and Open and Distance Learning (ODL).

• Targeted Financing: New Modes of fund generation and outcome-based funding.

• Example: Providing financial incentives like One-time financial grants to support filling up existing vacancies of faculty and One-time Catch-up grant to facilitate infrastructural upgradation.

• Technology Enhanced Learning which will enable adaption of latest technologies to augment outcomes. 

• Example: Developing platforms using AI that could offer personalized learning paths, adaptive assessments, and real-time progress tracking to enhance the learning experience and outcomes.

Development of higher education is crucial for improving the employability and to ensure access to high salaried jobs. Changes on the above-mentioned lines are expected to improve the quality of higher education in India, which could pave the way for better utilization of India’s democratic dividend.

Tags:
Social Justice

Keywords:
Higher education technical education Academic Bank of Credit MOOC UGC college education Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan All India Survey on Higher Education university education STEM Enrollment veblen effect National Institutional Ranking

Syllabus:
General Studies Paper 2

Topics:
Social Justice