Why they won't come to teach you from Harvard?

Forbes India’s insightful analysis on the Education Bill

In 2014 India will have to send 22 million people to college, an increase of over 8 million from the 14 million it currently sends. This is necessary to ensure our GDP growth curve keeps rising. Over the part year Indian education has progressed more than it has over the past few decades. The credit for this would go to Kapil Sibal - Minister for Human Resource Development who has had the foresight and resolve to finally untangle the convoluted Indian education policies. Apart from this he has cleared the draft for the Foreign Education Providers (Regulation) Bill which allows international universities to offer degree programmes independently in India.

But perhaps it’s not yet time for applause, we must remember that until more recently foreign education providers could, and have operated in India. About 150 foreign universities already offer degree programmes in partnership with different Indian institutes, where the students study a part of the programme in India. We are not the first country to have lifted the ban on foreign institutions. Israel has dismal evidence of how the lifting of the veto worked against them. Likewise similar stories exist in Singapore, Qatar and Dubai and yet again success stories abide in countries like Malaysia and China. Systematically scrutinized norms for their education bill that benefited their populace lead an impressive conversion ratio.

Does the bill mean Stanford, Harvard and Cambridge will be rushing in to set up campuses in India. Universities need to invest in at least 51 per cent of the total capital expenditure to establish the campus. Getting a suitable, accredited Indian partner who is really not interested in profit for the remaining 49 per cent investment will be difficult for an accredited foreign university. The university has to go through an elaborate three-level registration process to be granted deemed university status.  The reality of the situation is that in India; most of not-for-profit educational institutions are serving public interest for "private gain", thus making higher education unaffordable. Malpractices like capitation fee exist because of the not-for-profit concept in higher education. However higher education is private investment for private gain.

The latest issue of Forbes India advocates dropping the pretense of ‘not for profit’ and letting people make money off the sector and allow ‘for-profit’ institutions to work. It draws conclusions that the government run institutions like IITs, AIIMS or IIM should continue to function in the superlative way they are doing. And allow some of India’s leading corporations like Tata’s, Birla’s or even Wipro to set up ‘for-profit’ institutions alongside them. For further insights and an in depth understanding of where education in our country is heading post the clearance of the Foreign Education Providers (Regulation) Bill, pick up your copy of the Forbes India issue which will be on stands on 2nd April 2010.

ABOUT FORBES INDIA:
Forbes India, launched in partnership with Network18, is India's biggest full play integrated media network. Forbes India helps readers connect the dots, form patterns and see beyond the obvious, giving them a completely different perspective. In doing this, it delivers sharp, in-depth and engaging stories by looking at global and domestic issues from an Indian prism.

The senior leadership team at the magazine has 200 man years of experience in its ranks—the highest across any magazine in any category in the country and is led by the dynamic and vastly experienced Indrajit Gupta.