If India wants to go global, education and technical training should move at a faster pace. Automation has become the order of the day and manufacturing is gradually giving way to innovation. Labour markets have undergone great disruptions worldwide. There was huge retrenchment in the IT sector in India last year. All this calls for significant improvement in the higher education sector so that Indian youth are properly skilled for jobs. The All India Higher Education Survey unveiled by the HRD Ministry causes alarm. India’s Gross Enrolment Ratio which is used to determine total enrolment in undergraduate, post-graduate and research based studies in the age group of 18-23 years went up only marginally from 24.5% in 2015-16 to 25.2% in 2016-17. China is way ahead of India. The quality of Indian education in most places is also pathetic. There has been a mushrooming of universities- 799 in 2015-16 to 864 a year later. But lack of academic autonomy has stunted development in most of these institutions.
The Indian Institute of Management Bill allows functional autonomy to IIMs. 20 Indian universities look like they can become world class institutions. However, higher education demands a total rethink. Universities should be free from political patronage. Research and training should be in sync with industrial needs. Universities should go for greater collaboration among themselves. Higher education should breathe an air of freedom, be global in their approach and the stress should be on the capacity to deliver.
