Higher Education in India

• In spite of large expansion in the number of Higher Education Institutions recently, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for India is 27.3, which is lower than the world average and much-lower than most of the developed countries.
• India not only lag behind developed countries such as the US (86%), but also developing peers such as China (54%) and Brazil (36%)

Equity

• There is no equity in GER among different sections of society. GER for males (26.3%), females (25.4%), SC (21.8%) and ST (15.9%).
• There are regional variations too. While some states like Kerala have high GER some like Bihar are far behind the national figures.
• The college density (number of colleges per lakh eligible population) varies from 7 in Bihar to 59 in Telangana as compared to All India average of 28.
• Most of premier universities and colleges are centred in a metropolitan and urban city, thereby leading to the regional disparity in access to higher education.

Pupil-teacher ratio

• Pupil Teacher Ratio in Higher Education in 2019-20 is 26. It needs to be improved to make it comparable to USA (12.5:1), China (19.5:1) and Brazil (19:1).

Teacher vacancies

• According to the AISHE 2019-20, the total number of teachers in higher educational institutions in India has been drastically falling. Nearly 35% of professor posts and 46% of assistant professor posts out of total sanctioned strength remain vacant across the country.

Poor fund allocation in research:

India’s investment in R&D has remained constant at around 0.6% to 0.7% of India’s GDP.

This is below the expenditure of countries like the US (2.8), China (2.1), Israel (4.3) and Korea (4.2).

Questionable quality of research:

India has emerged as one of the biggest markets for ‘predatory journals’.

Researches published are riddled with issues of plagiarism and data manipulation.

Moreover, Indian Higher education institutions are poorly connected to research centres.

Other issues related to research:

Low levels of PhD enrolment, fewer opportunities for interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research, low quality of research work, etc. are some of the factors affecting the research ecosystem in India.

Lack of employable skills

As per NITI Aayog, only 5.4% of India’s workforce has undergone skill training compared to 75% in Germany and 96% in South Korea.

According to the Annual Employability Survey 2019 report by ‘Aspiring Minds’, 80% of Indian engineers are not fit for a job in the knowledge economy. This arises mainly due to the focus on rote learning and outdated curriculum taught at colleges.

Bulk of the enrolment in higher education is handled by state universities and their affiliated colleges.

However, nearly 65% of the UGC budget is utilized by the central universities and their colleges, while state universities and their affiliated colleges get only the remaining 35%. 

In research conducted by the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Ministry of Science & Technology, the UIL of India is 4.7 on a scale of 10.

It shows the absence of appropriate schemes and policies by the government that would support the cause.

Outdated, irrelevant curriculum that is dominantly theoretical in nature and has a low scope for creativity. 

There is a wide gap between industry requirements and universities’ curriculum that is the main reason for the low employability of graduates in India.

Accountability and performance of teachers:

At present, there is no mechanism for ensuring the accountability and performance of professors in universities and colleges.

This is unlike foreign universities where the performance of college faculty is evaluated by their peers and students.

As a result of increase in number of colleges and students, the burden of administrative functions of universities has significantly increased. Due to this, the core focus on managing academics and ensuring quality got diluted.

Moreover, management of the Indian education faces challenges of over-centralization, bureaucratic structures and lack of accountability, transparency, and professionalism

Also, governing such as the UGC is riddled with allegations of corruption and nepotism.

Low public spending

India spends 4.6% of its total GDP on education, against the recommended level of 6%.

While private sector has been involved, it has led to the mushrooming of a large number of sub-standard colleges and deemed universities.

Weak school education system

School is the foundation of higher education in all societies. However, the Indian education system emphasize on rote learning without application-based knowledge and field practical information.

This limits free thinking and creation of novel ideas.