Introduction:

Since Independence, higher education system in India has witnessed various challenges –

• inadequate government funding
• poor quality
• increasing privatization and politicisation
• Only IITs and IIMs (which constitutes a tiny segment of a system that enrolls 35 million students) have shown some excellence.

However, things are changing now, at least at the Central government level and at the top of the higher education system.

Towards innovation

• The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), implemented in 2016, is India’s first government-supported ranking of colleges and universities.
• It may in the future guide government financial support for higher education.
• It will provide the basis for differentiating among colleges and universities.
• It will force participating institutions to submit data on critical areas, permitting government to make key decisions.

What needs to be done to create elite, globally competitive world-class universities in India?

Apart from NIRF, two additional initiatives try to create world-class universities –

1. Institutions of Eminence (IoE) project; and
2. Graded Autonomy project

Institutions of Eminence (IoE) project

• IOE project will recognise 20 universities, 10 public and 10 private, and provide significant government funds to the public institutions (no extra money to the privates) and give enhanced autonomy for them.
• It is similar to many of the “excellence initiatives” common worldwide in providing extra funding in return for innovative ideas to the winners.

Graded Autonomy project

• The Graded Autonomy programme provides considerable freedom for academic, financial and administrative innovation to the colleges and universities participating.
• Given the often stifling bureaucracy of higher education, it will be a significant stimulus for innovation. Both public and private institutions are involved.
• The Graded Autonomy programme makes it easier to hire international faculty, traditionally very difficult to do.

Do you know?

• Traditionally, colleges and universities have been restricted from deep international collaboration.
• There has been little emphasis on attracting international students — only 47,575 international students study in India compared to the almost 400,000 in China.

Other initiatives:

Study in India initiative

• It seeks to attract international students mainly from a group of African and Asian countries.
• It aims at doubling India’s tiny share of global student mobility from 1% to 2%.
  Government-to-government MoU
• India is moving towards signing a pact on mutual recognition of academic qualifications with 30 countries.
• Recently a government-to-government MoU was signed between India and France to mutually recognise academic qualifications, a historic development.

Challenges

• India’s plan to upgrade 20 or more Indian universities to world-class quality will be complex.
• It will also take time and consistent funding, probably at a scale beyond what is envisaged in current plans.
• Universities should be granted with increased autonomy and freedom from the bureaucratic shackles of government.
• Innovative ideas from the top universities has been little evident.
• Internationalisation is central to academic success in the 21st century — and India has been notably weak.
• The inability in recent years to pass legislation relating to foreign branch campuses and other relationships with overseas universities is an indication of the problem.
• Carefully studying what has worked abroad may also provide useful ideas. India has shown academic innovations over the years, but on a limited scale and never in the comprehensive universities.

Several Indian universities are finally awakening to the challenges of the 21st century. At least several innovative programmes, backed by government, are in the works. Implementing them effectively remains the key challenge.