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TODAY, KNOWLEDGE is power. The more knowledge one has, the more empowered one is. Currently, India has around 196 Universities and 121 Deemed Universities. According to the University Grants Commission (UGC), India needs 1500 more universities with adequate research facilities by the end of the year 2015 in order to compete in the global market.
India’s main competitors — China and South Korea — are investing in large and differentiated higher education systems that can cater quality education to the students, who in turn will add to the growth of their nation. They are providing access to a large number of students at the bottom of the academic system, while at the same time building some research-based universities that are able to compete with the world’s best institutions. The recent London Times Higher Education Supplement ranking of the world’s top 200 universities included six from China, four from Hong Kong, three from South Korea and two from India [IIT Delhi (Rank 154) and IIT Bombay (Rank 174)]. After taking a look at this data, it is clearly visible how far behind India lags. These countries are positioning themselves for leadership in the knowledge-based economies of the coming era and India also has to work hard to match their level.
India has significant advantages in the 21st century knowledge race. It has a large higher education sector — the third largest in the world in student numbers, after China and the United States. It uses English as the primary language in higher education and research. However, to cater them, there are only a small number of high quality institutions, departments, and centres that can form the basis of quality sector in higher education. India educates approximately 10 per cent of its youth in higher education as compared to 15 per cent in China.
At present, the world-class institutions in India are mainly limited to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and perhaps a few others such as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. These institutions cater to only one per cent of the student population. Most of the Indian colleges and universities lack in high-end research facilities. Under-investment in libraries, information technology, laboratories and classrooms makes it very difficult to provide top quality instruction or engage in cutting-edge research. This gap has to be bridged if we want to speed up our path to development.
Even the small top tier of higher education faces serious problems. Many IIT graduates, well trained in technology, have chosen not to contribute their skills to the burgeoning technology sector in India; perhaps half leave the country immediately upon graduation to pursue advanced studies abroad, and most do not return. A stunning 86 per cent of Indian students in the fields of science and technology who obtain degrees in the United States do not return home immediately following their graduation. A body of dedicated and able teachers work at the IITs and IIMs, but the lure of jobs abroad and in the private sector makes it increasingly difficult to lure the best and brightest to the academic profession.
As India strives to compete in a globalised economy in areas that require highly trained professionals, the quality of higher education becomes increasingly important. So far, India’s large, educated population base and its reservoir of at least moderately well-trained university graduates have aided the country in moving ahead, but the competition is fierce; from China in particular. Other Asian countries are also upgrading higher education with the aim of building world class universities.
To develop further, India needs enough universities with high-end research facilities that will not only produce bright graduates, but can also support sophisticated research in a number of scientific and scholarly fields and produce at least some of the knowledge and technology needed for an expanding economy. For this, the newly emerging private sector in higher education is the only hope.
Vedanta University is one such initiative taken by the Anil Agarwal Foundation. Once completed, it will provide world class education to 1,00,000 students in 95 academic disciplines. It will also provide industry linked high-end research facilities that are the need of the time. With an estimated investment of more than Rs 15,000 crores, the not-for-profit university will transform Orissa, where it is situated, into a primary centre for knowledge in India. The institute will join the ranks of the world’s greatest universities such as Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford.
Vedanta University envisages establishing a research park which will promote science, technology, and biotechnology-based entrepreneurship, supporting an innovation-driven incubator, and providing enabling infrastructure that will house the research and development facilities of hi-tech firms eager to leverage the talent pool of the University. The university will invite leading enterprises to establish R&D activities in the research park, which in turn will establish a network of government and private laboratories and academic units at the university. It hopes to become the undisputed national hub of research-based entrepreneurship, and has great potential to contribute significantly to both, India’s economy, as well as to the intellectual climate of Orissa.
However, one university can’t make much difference. If the government welcomes more such initiatives, the future will be ours. We will be able to match and compete with other Asian countries and the dream to be the world’s greatest economy won’t be difficult to achieve. In addition to all this, we can retain the home grown talents that otherwise go abroad for higher education.
source: http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=15710378
TODAY, KNOWLEDGE is power. The more knowledge one has, the more empowered one is. Currently, India has around 196 Universities and 121 Deemed Universities. According to the University Grants Commission (UGC), India needs 1500 more universities with adequate research facilities by the end of the year 2015 in order to compete in the global market.
India’s main competitors — China and South Korea — are investing in large and differentiated higher education systems that can cater quality education to the students, who in turn will add to the growth of their nation. They are providing access to a large number of students at the bottom of the academic system, while at the same time building some research-based universities that are able to compete with the world’s best institutions. The recent London Times Higher Education Supplement ranking of the world’s top 200 universities included six from China, four from Hong Kong, three from South Korea and two from India [IIT Delhi (Rank 154) and IIT Bombay (Rank 174)]. After taking a look at this data, it is clearly visible how far behind India lags. These countries are positioning themselves for leadership in the knowledge-based economies of the coming era and India also has to work hard to match their level.
India has significant advantages in the 21st century knowledge race. It has a large higher education sector — the third largest in the world in student numbers, after China and the United States. It uses English as the primary language in higher education and research. However, to cater them, there are only a small number of high quality institutions, departments, and centres that can form the basis of quality sector in higher education. India educates approximately 10 per cent of its youth in higher education as compared to 15 per cent in China.
At present, the world-class institutions in India are mainly limited to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and perhaps a few others such as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. These institutions cater to only one per cent of the student population. Most of the Indian colleges and universities lack in high-end research facilities. Under-investment in libraries, information technology, laboratories and classrooms makes it very difficult to provide top quality instruction or engage in cutting-edge research. This gap has to be bridged if we want to speed up our path to development.
Even the small top tier of higher education faces serious problems. Many IIT graduates, well trained in technology, have chosen not to contribute their skills to the burgeoning technology sector in India; perhaps half leave the country immediately upon graduation to pursue advanced studies abroad, and most do not return. A stunning 86 per cent of Indian students in the fields of science and technology who obtain degrees in the United States do not return home immediately following their graduation. A body of dedicated and able teachers work at the IITs and IIMs, but the lure of jobs abroad and in the private sector makes it increasingly difficult to lure the best and brightest to the academic profession.
As India strives to compete in a globalised economy in areas that require highly trained professionals, the quality of higher education becomes increasingly important. So far, India’s large, educated population base and its reservoir of at least moderately well-trained university graduates have aided the country in moving ahead, but the competition is fierce; from China in particular. Other Asian countries are also upgrading higher education with the aim of building world class universities.
To develop further, India needs enough universities with high-end research facilities that will not only produce bright graduates, but can also support sophisticated research in a number of scientific and scholarly fields and produce at least some of the knowledge and technology needed for an expanding economy. For this, the newly emerging private sector in higher education is the only hope.
Vedanta University is one such initiative taken by the Anil Agarwal Foundation. Once completed, it will provide world class education to 1,00,000 students in 95 academic disciplines. It will also provide industry linked high-end research facilities that are the need of the time. With an estimated investment of more than Rs 15,000 crores, the not-for-profit university will transform Orissa, where it is situated, into a primary centre for knowledge in India. The institute will join the ranks of the world’s greatest universities such as Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford.
Vedanta University envisages establishing a research park which will promote science, technology, and biotechnology-based entrepreneurship, supporting an innovation-driven incubator, and providing enabling infrastructure that will house the research and development facilities of hi-tech firms eager to leverage the talent pool of the University. The university will invite leading enterprises to establish R&D activities in the research park, which in turn will establish a network of government and private laboratories and academic units at the university. It hopes to become the undisputed national hub of research-based entrepreneurship, and has great potential to contribute significantly to both, India’s economy, as well as to the intellectual climate of Orissa.
However, one university can’t make much difference. If the government welcomes more such initiatives, the future will be ours. We will be able to match and compete with other Asian countries and the dream to be the world’s greatest economy won’t be difficult to achieve. In addition to all this, we can retain the home grown talents that otherwise go abroad for higher education.
source: http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=15710378
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