Spotlight: Education System in India – Geared for Excellence

The Indian education system is one of the largest in the world with some of its higher education institutions ranked among the best globally. The Oxford University considers Indian students amongst the best in the world. In an annual survey published by The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) and QS, Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) at Delhi and Bombay were ranked amongst the Top 200 Universities of the World. Eleven Indian universities are ranked among the ‘Top 200 Asian Universities’.

The Indian Education System
Presently, the educational system in India comprises of pre-primary education, primary education, secondary education, senior secondary education and higher education. Elementary education consists of eight years of education, while secondary and senior secondary education consists of two years each.

Making education available to all is top priority for the government, and the 86th Constitutional Amendment has also made elementary education, a fundamental right for children between the age group of 6 to 14. The Government had established the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 1953 for the development of the higher education system. Since then, the expansion of higher education has been growing rapidly.

The focus of the 11th Five Year Plan would be on giving vocational education to school dropouts and those included in the conventional education streams. The Ministry of Education has estimated that the country needs to build around 200,000 new K-12 (kindergarten to senior secondary) schools. Further, the government is also planning to upgrade 15,000 upper primary schools to secondary schools and enhance the capacity in the existing 44,000 secondary schools across the country.

With the government planning to allow private investment into primary education, primary education will receive a major boost. A few public-private partnerships have already taken shape under the rural health mission and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, mostly in the form of management contracts.

Business & Technology Schools in India
Business schools in India are becoming a major focus for employers as the country’s economy demands ever more professional managers. The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) Bangalore, Ahmedabad Calcutta now feature within the top 10 Asia-Pacific business schools. The Indian School of Business, SP Jain Institute and Delhi university also figure prominently among the top management institutes from India.

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) at New Delhi, Kanpur, Mumbai, Chennai and Kharagpur are among the top technology institutes in the world. Higher education system will receive a huge impetus with the setting up of eight new IIITs, six IIMs and five new Indian Institutes of Science in various states.

Technical Education in India
There are a large number of institutes providing diverse technical courses in India. The number of AICTE approved institutes that offer engineering degree courses in India is 439,689, 1244 institutes offer diploma courses in engineering, 415 institutes offer diploma courses in Pharmacy, 63 institutes offer Hotel Management and Catering Technology, 25 AICTE approved institutes offer Architecture, and 1012 AICTE approved institutes offer Master of Computer Application courses and many other streams. In 2008, the AICTE received 886 applications for starting engineering colleges and 1,084 applications for new management institutes.

During the 11th Five Year Plan (2007–2012), the Government plans to convert the Institute of Technology of the Banaras Hindu University into an IIT, establish 14 Universities with world-class standards and an additional 16 universities in states which do not have a Central University.

Education in Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012)
Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh has termed the Eleventh Five Year Plan as 'India's educational plan'. The 11th Five Year Plan seeks to strengthen the nation with talented people, making scientific and technological advancement and innovation an important driving force for economic and social development, putting education and training of quality talent at a prominent strategic position while striving to build an innovative country with rich human resources. It emphasizes on:

• Investing more in education by ensuring higher financial expenditure for education so as to gradually increase the proportion of financial expenditure for education in GDP to 4 per cent.
• Popularisation and consolidation of nine years of compulsory education in rural areas and elimination of tuition and incidental fees for rural students during the compulsory education period.
• Under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the dropout rates for both boys and girls of all social groups are to be reduced significantly.
• Vocational training for both men and women, which is to be given top priority.
• To undertake a major effort to expand and improve the quality of India's higher education system.
• To increase adult literacy to 85 per cent by the end of the plan period.

Major Investments in Education Sector
Huge government as well as private investment is likely to flow into the Indian educational system.

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has decided on a financial allocation for the 1,000 new polytechnics to be set up across the country at a total cost of US$ 147.97 million.
• The Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, will soon set up a Financial Trading and Research Laboratory to provide students analytic and model-building experience through access to real time national and international financial data.
• The world's second discovery park will be set up in Amethi, UP. The park will have nine research centres that would help rural development.
• The Hinduja Group will be setting up a World Knowledge Centre in Mumbai for the development of an integrated healthcare and education institution.
• The Orissa government has allocated US$ 565.08 million in the annual budget to improve the quality of mass education at primary and secondary levels.
• D E Shaw, a US$ 36 billion, global private equity firm is planning to invest around US$ 200 million in the Indian education sector.
• Zydus Cadila Healthcare is going to set up Ramanbhai College of Life Sciences in 2010 for under graduate, Post graduate and Doctoral courses in basic and applied sciences. The first batch will roll out in 2011 from the campus in Ahmedabad.
• St Xavier’s College, Calcutta, plans to set up a top quality research centre in its second campus proposed to be set up shortly. The centre, estimated to cost US$ 60.17 million, will be ready in three years. The proposed centre will focus on subjects related to biotechnology, microbiology, botany as well as space research and astronomy.
• The Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG) is investing about US$15 million into online tutoring entity TutorVista.
• Educomp Solutions will set up five such schools by July 2009, and increase the number to 100 in the next 2–3 years. Educomp will invest close to US$ 140,342 per school.

Global Foot Prints
A number of Indian B-schools have established offshore campuses and the Middle Eastern nations and Singapore are clearly emerging as favourite destinations.

• Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI) in Jamshedpur offers an executive education programme in Dubai and now has a campus in Singapore.
• Institute of Management Technology (IMT) and SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) also have campuses in Dubai.
• The Management Development Institute (MDI) in Gurgaon is in advanced talks with the government of Qatar to open a branch in the capital city of Doha.
• Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI), which has already opened shop in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, is in the process of establishing more centres in Myanmar and Kazakhstan.
• NIIT Ltd will be opening up a training centre in Dalian in China, in 2008, starting with 1,000 professionals, and scaling it up to 10,000 a year in the next three years.

(Courtesy: India Brand Equity Foundation)