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Education Powering India’s Rise

Opening up of the education sector to foreign universities and other policies to be beneficial

The size and scope of India’s higher education market is unrivalled. India is home to the world’s largest population, with almost half of its population below 25 years. The largest youth cohort of 254 million youngsters (between 15 and 24 years), according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), could be a great asset and source of innovation, new thinking, and lasting solutions.

Challenges and opportunities

India currently has over 1,000 universities, 43,000 colleges, 12,000 standalone institutions, 1.52 million schools that employ 9.7 million teachers, as per data from All India Survey of Higher Education and Statista. Yes, the overall literacy rate of the country has improved significantly from 18 per cent at the time of independence in 1947 to 77.7 per cent in 2021 and 2022, but there is still a long way to go. Take the gross enrolment ratio, for instance. At present, India’s GER stands at 27 per cent. Compared to the global average of 38 per cent, it is way lower. The country has done well over the last few decades to encourage more children enrolling in the formal education system. In 2020-21, the gross enrolment ratio for elementary was remarkably high at 99.1 per cent, primarily because of the 1.14 million public schools that remain the main artery of the education space in India. Public schools enrol over 55 per cent of all students. Pro-literacy campaigns and policies by successive central and state governments have helped shore up the number of enrolments in schools over the last few decades. However, several factors including inadequate infrastructure, funding, and resources seem to be affecting in keeping students interested for long. The GER starts waning as children get older. In the upper primary, India’s GER stood at 92.2 per cent in 2020-21, as per the data from Unified District Information System for Education Plus. In the secondary, this ratio dropped further to 79.8 per cent and the higher secondary had just 53.8 per cent in the higher secondary. According to the World Economic Forum, about 13 million people join India’s workforce each year. However, only one in four management professionals, one in five engineers, and one in 10 graduates have the necessary skills to perform their jobs at a satisfactory level.

Policies and investment

This year’s union budget announced a 13 per cent increase to the education sector and earmarked $13.5 billion. This was accompanied by several policy changes and regulations targeting the higher education sector. Notably, the government this year introduced relaxation of rules around international collaborations and online learning. While these are welcome steps in the right direction, the next big impetus needed to propel the higher education sector is an influx of domestic and foreign capital.

The investment announced is a vital step in pushing through the change that began in 2020 when the India government introduced the National Education Policy (NEP) with an aim of doubling the GER in higher education to 50 per cent by 2035. The Higher Education Commission of India (HECI), which will be the overarching regulator for higher education, with steep penal provisions comes at a time when the existing regulator is grappling with the proliferation of ‘fake universities’. Overall, the HECI is being entrusted with developing an integrated roadmap for the future of higher education in India and transforming existing higher education institutions into large multidisciplinary units and research universities.

The road ahead

There has been a notable shift in education policy in India to strengthen the higher education landscape through the NEP 2020. Secondly, the unveiling of the draft norms by the University Grants Commission to facilitate the ‘Setting Up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India’, is yet another remarkable move. According to the guidelines laid down in the draft, these universities will have absolute autonomy in deciding the fee structure, administering the admission process and repatriating their funds back home.

Two Australian universities — Deakin University and the University of Wollongong — have already confirmed their plans to establish campuses in GIFT City in Gujarat, India.

This is a turning point for the education space in India that is also gearing to launch its premier institutions outside the country.