Solution lies in private initiatives

We must have an open mind for introducing imaginative changes in every aspect of policy and execution if we wish to learn from the global success stories.

We must have an open mind for introducing imaginative changes in every aspect of policy and execution if we wish to learn from the global success stories.

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A recent survey of higher education by The Economist, rates the US model as the best in the world. The reasons cited for this are the unique blend of ample funds, academic excellence, a variety of choices and free-market competition.

If the American model is taken as a yardstick, India has to do a lot of catching up. Public expenditure on higher education remains abysmally low, being only 0.4per cent of GNP. Overall enrolment ratio is less than 10 per cent, compared to more than 80 per cent in Korea and USA. The youth literacy rate for India is 73.3 per cent compared to 98.9 per cent for China and access to higher education remains the prerogative of a select few.

For example, the total number of seats in the IITs and IIMs allow the selection of only the top 1.1 per cent to 1.3 per cent of applicants, as compared to nearly 10-15 per cent in institutions like Harvard, Stanford, Oxford or Cambridge.

The February 2005 Supreme Court verdict ordering the closure of more than a hundred universities and institutes across the country and the recent withdrawal of AICTE approval to Amity Business School, underscores the problems of quality control and academic standards. There is the absence of a successful facilitator like the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) in the US, a private, non-profit national body that fosters accountability, academic high standards, fair practices and is a dispute resolution mechanism for voluntary accreditation.

Another successful model, that of the Scandinavian countries, rests on the principle that the citizens pay back for their education through taxes, as also on the homogeneity of all programmes, whether technical or purely academic. Such a model is difficult to replicate in India where varied economic backgrounds necessitate different fee structures. There are just too many people to be educated despite a shortfall of skilled workers.

Closer home, China faces a similar challenge, and has devised a number of innovative measures. Peking University has set up a 'parallel' university, in which students who fail to make the cut can enroll by paying a little extra.

China is also inviting FDI in higher education through joint ventures and has various cooperative learning programmes operated by US, Australia, France, Singapore and others. The idea is to import the best opportunities to nurture the best talent. All this has increased China's enrolment rates phenomenally. In 2005, about 1.17 million students applied to enter postgraduate programs, a 24 per cent increase from 2004 and the Ministry of Education plans to triple this number within the next five years.

Although the IITs are islands of excellence in an ocean of questionable quality, India is not without its success stories. The MIT of India, the Manipal Institute of Technology, is the leader amongst the 45 per cent privately run providers of technical education at the next level. It combines diversity of curricula and practical training with interaction with the corporate sector. This includes imparting practical skills to fit future job profiles, something clearly reflected in the institution's impressive on-campus recruitments.

To replicate its success, there is a need to make the system more varied and preference-based. In the US, more than 60 per cent of higher education institutes are community colleges that teach practical vocational skills.

According to Nasscom, demand-fuelled enrolment in Indian tech schools will increase by 70 per cent to 600,000 by 2008. There is an urgent need to increase the number of seats, which require bigger or new campuses, which in turn require more funds. The natural corollary of this is that private initiative must be encouraged. This requires a radical change in our collective thinking.

Where we stand

** New Zealand's public expenditure on higher education is 2.2 per cent of its GNP; India 0.4 per cent

** UK's The Times Higher Education Supplement lists 7 American Universities in the world's top 10. IIT ranks 41st in a list of 200.