The Indian higher education sector in India will require a huge investment of Rs. 10 lakh crore to provide an increased capacity of 25 million seats by 2020. The private sector which is responsible for 52 per cent of the enrolment would invest Rs. 50,000 crore out of the total investment required per year.

The increasing number of Higher Education Institutions

This statistics appeared in the annual FICCI-Ernst & Young report, which indicates that the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of the number of institutions is 11 per cent which is much greater than the student enrolment rate which stands at 6 per cent. In the last one year period, the number of new colleges that were added is 5000.

India leads in the number of higher education institutions

In 2010, India had the largest number of higher education institutions with 26,500 institutions. During the same period the number of higher education institutions in US was just 7000 and in China it was 4000. About 66 per cent of the colleges fall in the general education category which includes arts, science and commerce colleges. These colleges accounts for about 80 per cent of the total enrolments. Among the various professional courses, engineering is the most preferred by the students, followed by Pharmacy and Management courses. Even though India has the largest number of higher education institutes, only 1-2 Indian institutes made it to the top of various global rankings. May be this would be the main reason why more Indian students are opting to go abroad for higher education. In 2006, more than 150,000 students opted to go abroad for their higher education with a CAGR of 24.5 per cent.

Need increased capacity to meet the rising student enrolment

The higher education enrolment in India has been growing at a CAGR of 6 per cent, with 16 million students currently admitted to institutes across India. With the current CAGR, the number of students in higher education institutions is expected to increase to 40 million by the year 2020. To accommodate the increasing number of students, there is a need for 33,000 new higher education institutes. In the higher education sector in India, we have 15 to 30 per cent of under utilized capacity which is mainly due to the lack of quality of education that these institutes provide. The poor quality arises from the shortage of faculty and poor infrastructure. The student to teacher ratio in India is high with 22 students to a teacher, when compared to that of developed countries which is at 11.4:1.

Technology as driver of growth

Technology is an important driver that will enable growth in the higher education sector. Reforms should be introduced in distance education, which will ensure growth and expansion in distance education in the country. Special Education Zones and Special Knowledge Zones should be promoted, which will give autonomy and opportunity innovation for the private players. Areas that need improvements include student to computer ratio, which now stands at 229:1. The AICTE recommends students to computer ratio to be 2:1.

The technology infrastructure in India

The report also looks into the technology infrastructure in the higher education sector in the country. The analysis was made on the basis of various indicators such as the internet penetration, the personal computer ownership, and various other indicators. The report found that in many areas of India, there is a shortage of basic technological infrastructure such as electricity, and telecommunications. This is an area which requires urgent attention before we think about computer in the colleges. The lack of local language content and interaction is another area which requires attention as the 83 per cent of the rural literate Indians do not understand English.

The reduced spending on Research and Development

The Research and Development spending in the higher education sector amounts to just 4 per cent of the total budget, in contrast to higher spending of 10 per cent in China. The number of researches is also low in India, with only 14 per cent of the research manpower being contributed by the higher education sector.

How to meet the target of 30 per cent GER?

The report suggests that the target of 30 per cent gross enrolment (GER) rate by 2020 set by the government seems to be unachievable with the current pace of development. So the government should consider the model which is adopted in the United States, which involves for profit education. This will attract huge investments from the private parties which will bring in developments in the higher education sector. To meet the GER of 30 per cent by 2020, 40 million students should be enrolled into higher education institutes, the creation of the capacity for the same seems impossible by the government.

More participation from private parties through for profit system

The report recommends that the government should consider the inclusion of for profit education in the higher education sector and put place a regulatory framework that makes it statutory for the for profit players to impart a certain level quality in education. This will ensure more private participation and thus more capital inflow which will add capacity to the higher education system and thus help the government in achieving its Gross Enrolment rate of 30 per cent by 2020.

In terms of infrastructure, about 48 per cent of the universities and 69 per cent of the colleges lacks in infrastructure.

The majority of the state private universities are concentrated in a few states and 65 per cent of such universities are located in top 5 states. These states have put in place a proper regulatory environment and provide government support for the setting up and running of such institutions. The important stakeholders include Central Government, State Government, Regulatory bodies, professional councils and Accreditation bodies.

Thus the government should work in close quarters with the private sector in meeting the increasing demand for quality education which will bring more Indian institutes to the top of the global rankings and improve research and innovation in the sector.