Lack of entrepreneurship programmes in Indian institutes a concern: Report

There is a lack of entrepreneurship programmes in Indian higher education institutes, according to a report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and Ernst & Young (EY), issued at the Ficci Higher Education Summit here on Thursday.

The report - Higher education in India: Moving towards global relevance and competitiveness - says only a few Indian higher education institutes have entrepreneurship courses and most of them have been introduced only recently. For instance, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, recently introduced courses on entrepreneurship. Likewise, IIT Kharagpur is considering a micro specialisation in engineering entrepreneurship for its B.Tech students from next year.

The report notes that venture-funding as well as governmental support for incubation centres is still at early stages in India. Most incubation centres have been set up only after 2,000 and many of these are as young as eight to 10 years. (LONG ROAD AHEAD)

According to the report, low-impact research output and insufficient doctoral students are gaps in the system.

This is shown in the number of research papers published in Indian institutes vis-à-vis the global peers. On the other hand, China and the US score significantly higher compared to India in this space.

The report says most institutes lack research focus as well as the culture of research. It adds there is a limited focus on entrepreneurship on campuses as reflected in the fact that there are just a few institutes that offer programmes in entrepreneurship as well as have active incubation/entrepreneurship cells.

While the number of patents filed by India has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 12 per cent from 2008 to 2012, these numbers are small compared to those filed by the US and China.

In 2012, India filed 18,173 patents compared to 561,377 by China and 488,744 by Japan. The US filed 268,782 patents in 2012.

According to the report, low employability of graduates has always been a concern.

The poor quality of graduates is the result of a combination of factors such as out-dated curricula, shortage of quality faculty, high student-teacher ratios, lack of institutional and industry linkages and lack of autonomy to introduce new and innovative courses.

"Only a small proportion of Indian graduates are considered employable. This reflects in the fact that placement outcomes drop significantly as we move away from top-tier institutions," the report notes. It adds this has resulted in the closure of lower-rung higher education institutes that were not able to deliver results.

In 2014, as many as 120 colleges including 94 management institutes are expected to close down across the country because of their inability to fill the seats.

In 2012, 32 engineering and management colleges stopped admitting students. Among the colleges that closed down are engineering colleges (five), MBA (nine), MCA (14), pharmacy (three) and PGDM (one).

According to the report, globally-relevant and competitive would mean India is prominently placed on the global higher education map. India as a hub for talent and a culture of research, innovation and entrepreneurship.

The report showed that 3.5 billion jobs are expected to be created by 2020 and China and India are likely to drive demand by 2020.

Skill-intensive industries such as manufacturing and services are expected to contribute more than 90 per cent of India's GDP by 2030. Hence, the focus of employment is expected to shift towards services and manufacturing.

On higher education, the report says India will produce a significant number of higher education graduates in the coming years. Data show that in 2020, an estimated 42.1 million higher education enrolments will be seen in India, compared to 28.5 million in 2012.

The FICCI-EY report has raised concerns about how only a few Indian higher education institutions are globally ranked. This is in spite of the fact that India has 33,723 higher education institutions compared to 4,140 in the US.

The US has 97 institutes in the QS World University Rankings (Top 500) 2014/15. However, India only has six institutes in the list. Similarly, while the US has 102 institutes in Times Higher Education World University Rankings (Top 400) 2014, India has four.

A large number of Indian students go abroad to study in foreign higher education institutions, but the incoming foreign students are limited in number. Compared with 190,055 Indian students studying in higher education institutions abroad in 2012, only 31,000 foreign students came to India in that year.

The report in its vision has said that by 2030, 20-plus higher educational institutes should be there in the top 200 global rankings and India be among the top five in terms of research and patents, with 90 per cent graduates readily employable.