India has over 550 million people below the age of 25, which is the median age. Census figures depict that 33% of the population is between the age group of 0-14. These numbers illustrate that the number of students needing both primary and secondary education in India alone exceeds the American population. This also hints at the number of students who will be needing higher education in the next decade and the sheer size of the Indian education market.
At present, there are 11 million students in the higher education system and this represents only 11% of the 17-23 age group. The government expects escalation of this to at least 21% by 2017. This target still falls short of the world average. India is now emerging as a knowledge-based economy and human capital is becoming its major strength. These factors, however, highlight the severe inadequacies of India?s infrastructure for delivery of education, particularly higher and vocational education.
In the upcoming Budget, the country needs major investments on the ICT front, considering the fact that the world is moving to digital classrooms and 80% of US-based colleges use technology heavily especially in engineering and medical education. It makes way for recorded lectures, digital submission of assignments and online student forums. ICT can be used to find, develop, analyse and present information, and also to model a situation and solve problems.
Over the last many years, India?s public expenditure on education has ranged between 3.26% and 3.85%, but in this Budget this has to increase. Further, private participation has enough scope in the higher education sector as the government resources are not enough to meet these targets. The Budget should focus on evolving a PPP model for higher education.
Changes are also needed in the regulatory framework adopted by the government that governs FDI. While the government has now allowed 100% FDI in education through the automatic route, the AICTE regulations for foreign universities and the not-for-profit clause continue to be a major entry barriers for foreign capital. Working around some of these regulations in the Budget can benefit higher education.
A recent boost for Indian engineers came when India became a member of the exclusive Washington Accord. It will help create equivalence of engineering degree programmes and allow Indians to practise engineering in other member nations. The 220 tier-1 institutes in India that have been short-listed by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) include IITs, NITs and BITS Pilani, besides many autonomous and deemed universities. These institutes will have to apply afresh to NBA and undergo extensive verification of their programmes for their engineering degrees to be considered at par with those of member countries. This is a great development as Indian engineering students can now freely work abroad without clearing any qualifying examination.
A trained workforce can truly galvanise the economy. The government?s another focus area in this Budget should be on skill development and creation of competent ITIs, so that more trained workers enter the economy. For India to maintain its competitive advantage, the educational institutions need to produce industry-ready candidates and a good starting point can be re-looking at the course-content and the structure of our technical institutions so that they are in tune with current industry standards and latest developments.
Pavan Chauhan
The author is MD & founder, Meritnation
