PM stresses on need to improve quality of higher education

Flagging the issue of India's poor contribution in international scientific research, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asked institutions of higher learning to make collective efforts to "improve" the present state of affairs.
He also said UPA's nine years of rule has seen "unprecedented" expansion of the education system at all levels as the government believes that a skilled workforce is critical for rapid socio-economic progress of the country.
"As far as higher education in science and technology in our country is concerned, there are massive challenges that lie ahead. To give an idea of where we stand today, India's research output as global share of scientific publications was a mere 3.5 per cent in 2010 whereas China's share was 21 per cent in 2007...," he said.

Addressing the conference of Directors of National Institutes of Technology (NITs) here, Singh pointed out that the total number of patent applications filed by Indians in 2010 comprised only 0.3 per cent of the total applications filed globally.
Also, the country's share of global research and development investment is as low as 2.2 per cent, much lower than 9.2 per cent of China and 32.4 per cent of the US. "The Directors of NITs have a very important contribution to make in our collective efforts to improve this state of affairs," he stressed.
But at the same time, he said that the UPA government in its nine years of rule has laid special emphasis on education and the period has seen an "unprecedented expansion" of the education system at all levels - primary, secondary and higher.

The gross enrolment ratio for higher education grew from 12.3 per cent in 2006-2007 to 17.9 per cent in 2011-12. The growth of enrolment in engineering saw a phenomenal 25 per cent increase during the 11th Plan, he said.
"These efforts have been driven by the consideration that a skilled workforce is critical for rapid socio-economic progress of our country. It is essential to improve access to education and also its quality if we are to take full advantage of the large proportion of young men and women in our population," the PM said.