“The Stagnation And Quality Crisis Brewing In Higher Education Needed To Be Urgently Addressed, And Recently, Critical Reforms Were Identified And Executed”

India’s greatest asset is its human potential.

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AMITABH KANT

CEO, National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog)

Indian Administrative Service, IAS (Kerala Cadre: 1980 Batch)

Economic Time Policy Change Agent of the Year Award Bloomberg TV Personality of the year Award One Globe Award-2016 for leadership in Transforming Governance for the 21st Century

Member of the Steering Board of “Shaping the Future of Production Systems” of World Economic Forum

With over one-sixth of the world’s population, and poised to be the youngest country, India stands at an opportune juncture for transformative economic and social progress. Education is, however, a critical element that must be strengthened to attain this potential. Higher education saw unprecedented action recently in the form of regulatory reforms that address critical challenges.

LONG-STANDING CHALLENGES

India has one of the world’s largest higher-education systems, with over 900 universities, 39000 colleges, and 3.7 crore students. While the sector’s size grew exponentially over seven decades, the regulatory framework stood almost still in time. The UGC, established under the UGC Act, 1956 in a scenario of 25 universities, has continued to regulate over 900 universities with the same stick.

Long-standing regulations have been criticised for their overly prescriptive and restrictive nature, emphasis on inputs, ‘inspector raj’ that lacks transparency and objectivity, and continuance of obsolete elements. In many ways, such regulation has fettered dynamism and innovation for enhancing educational quality and relevance.