Expanding the education eco-system

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has introduced a transformative approach to India's higher education system with the aim to achieve the three primacies of access, quality and future readiness.

- VK PAUL, SHASHANK SHAH AND ARUNAVA DEY

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has introduced a transformative approach to India's higher education system with the aim to achieve the three primacies of access, quality and future readiness. It emphasizes setting up more Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in underserved areas to ensure full access, equity, and inclusion while recommending at least one large multidisciplinary HEI in or near every district. It has proposed a 50 per cent Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education by 2035, which would nearly double the student population from 4.33 crore (2021-22) in a decade. This would make India the world's largest higher education system. To accommodate this massive growth, India will need to nearly double its current number of universities.

An analysis of the current geographical distribution of universities in India reveals that over the last seven decades, their locations have been primarily determined by supply-side considerations rather than demand-driven factors. As a result, universities are concentrated in and around urban centres, rather than being spread across districts. For a more balanced distribution over the next decade, evidence-based spatial analyses can help provide insights for the strategic location of new universities across India.

The Ministry of Education publishes the All-India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), an annual report that offers comprehensive insights into the state of higher education across the country. When combined with available demographic data, this information holds significant potential for analysing the geographical distribution and concentration of colleges and universities. It also provides policymakers with valuable evidence to recommend optimal locations for establishing new universities. The key highlights are published alongside.