Higher education in India: Does the quality match rising expectations?

All through March & April, over 10 lakh students sat for their XII Board exams (that’s just the CBSE number!). Twelve years of education and learning culminated with a set of exam papers – their future resting on how they performed!

For bright students like Raksha, and the 63,000 students with over 90 percent marks, the next step to higher education will be a tad easier; but for lakhs of other students the struggle and uncertainty is only just beginning.  

What comes after class XII?

It’s a full calendar for students after boards – entrance exams for engineering, medical, architecture, law, defense, etc abound. Students spread themselves thin trying to take part in as many exams as possible – even for the brightest getting admission into a good college is not easy. 

There are over 700 universities and more than 37,000 affiliated colleges imparting knowledge to more than 20 million students; while this may seem sufficient, when you filter out geographical areas, courses offered and the quality & ranking of the institute – the competition to get into the right course and the right college is quite cutthroat. In this scenario, an average student is faced with two choices - enroll in a substandard course or pay up to access private institutes.

Before we look at a viable third option for higher studies, let’s take a look at what similar students face around the world.

What happens around the world?

While National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) and several international surveys usually rank the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) as the best among the Indian institutions, we lag far behind in the world ranking index – IIT Bombay was ranked 511 – far  behind most of the universities in the US, UK or Europe and even China. 

So what are these countries doing that keeps them at the top? 

USA: The land of Harvard, Yale & MIT - the US higher education is the holy grail for most students. The higher education sector has a mix of public and private institutions and unlike our system, it is largely independent from government regulation and is highly decentralised. There is no ministry of education! Each institute, including state affiliated ones, is free to choose its own curriculum, teaching methods, course structure and fees. This decentralised nature of the system allows institutions in the US to offer a vast array of subjects and programs - Students have the option of choosing from thousands of courses and can work across disciplines, mixing courses with their main degrees.

Also unlike its Asian counterparts, the US educational system is built around discussing ideas and concepts and eschews rote learning – a quality that pays better dividends in higher studies.

Germany: The largest country in Europe, Germany has some of the most esteemed universities in the world. It has a federally funded education system, but allows all states to issue its own university regulations and guidelines and German universities are usually given a great deal of independence. Students have access to a huge variety of subjects - almost 18000 degrees and courses, but what sets the German system apart is the strong emphasis laid on methodological expertise, application of knowledge and professional practice. 

China: Like everything else in China, the higher education sector has seen sudden and phenomenal growth (largely due to the Government’s push to expand university education that started in 1999) in the last 25 years. This year, 8 million students will graduate from Chinese Universities, almost twice the number of students graduating in the US. The country has seen ‘massification’ of its university system mostly due to increasing demand from a growing middle class and government initiatives and funding. 

While top Chinese public universities, such as Peking University and Tsinghua University, are ranked high internationally (an inordinate amount of funding by the government has ensured best-in-class infrastructure and attracted the best brains in the country), there is a lot of debate surrounding the quality of some of the newer private universities.

Takeaways for the Indian context

What constitutes a good higher education system? A brief look at some of the international models have thrown up some key points:

When we look at the Indian higher education system, it falls behind in all three points - controlled tightly by Central Government authorities our system is very far from the flexible and open structure used in the US and Germany, dated techniques and theoretical methods abound and despite the best effort of the Government most public colleges lack infrastructure. 

Private institutes in India are trying to emulate the US model – the infrastructure is better and the curriculum is more up to date – but they still have a long way to go before they can rival the world’s top universities. 

Digital learning: An alternate option for India’s learning needs

A few years ago, students started turning to online resources to plug the teaching gap in schools and colleges; now the digital learning industry is projected to reach $ 5.7 billion by 2020 in India. In less than a decade, the quality and credibility (completely in sync with the global standards) of e-Learning modules has won over millions of students across the country. With increasing use of online resources, mobile technology and more reliable Internet connectivity, technology has become an integral part of learning in higher education. Students now have access to a wide range of topics, world class content, pedagogy and certification – anytime and anywhere!  

But perhaps the most exciting thing about eLearning is, that it’s not just restricted to students; from professionals to pensioners - all can be part of this learning revolution. Whether paid or free, the sheer number of courses offered and the topics covered has made learning stimulating. And the variety of learning methods such as flipped classrooms, virtual learning, simulations, blended learning and so on have put the fun back in learning and changed the way India learns – forever.

And it’s all just starting. I foresee some exciting times ahead!

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Aditya Malik is the CEO & MD of Talentedge