GER should improve for better higher education in India'

Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER), a key indicator in higher education, needs to go up, as also an increase in investment and other measures, for higher education to improve in the country,NITI Aayog member V K Saraswat said here Monday.

"We have a very huge demographic advantage today...we only have to provide the nice ecosystem and the environment for them (youth) to become productive and also contribute to the countrys progress," he said.

"Higher education is one area which certainly helps them in doing what they are looking forward to.

But if you look at the picture of higher education in our country today, is not very, very bright. It is quite grim," Saraswat said.

He was addressing a "National Workshop on Accreditation, Quality Improvement and Ranking in Higher Education Roadmap Ahead", organised jointly by the Telangana State Council of Higher Education and others.

The GER (how many students are enrolled in the higher education) is about 25 per cent in the country, while it is 50 per cent in most of the developed countries, he said.

He was asked about his comments that the situation is grim and the response of the government and NITI Aayog to it