Higher Learning, Brighter Future: Next South Slogan

Southern stakeholders must jointly deliver the next phase of the peninsula's development transformation—a productive and high-income society driven by prosperity & capability

- RATHIN ROY

HE peninsular states have achieved per capita incomes well above the national average, eliminated extreme poverty, and made laudable progress in human development. They are manufacturing and modern service hubs, with low-quality jobs increasingly outsourced to migrants from poorer parts of India. The peninsula needs a massive increase in productivity and growth in the size and employment-generating potential of the formal sector. A virtuous nexus of high wages and high productivity is the next aspiration.

This will require a significant increase in the volume and quality of higher education offered in the peninsula. Improving the quality of school education is a necessary priority; however, in the peninsula, there is every reason to simultaneously double down on higher education.

This focus on higher education is both achievable and essential. The peninsular states already have a foundation in quality private higher education institutions, such as medical and engineering schools at Suratkal and Manipal, as well as the evolution of GITAM University, Vellore Christian Medical College, and the Vellore Institute of Technology, among other pioneers. These institutions, along with newer entrants such as SRM University and Azim Premji University, offer a practical starting point for scaling up the quality of higher education to boost productivity.

This is a partial list of higher education institutions that have established an outstanding track record of delivering quality higher education. The success of their placement activities also demonstrates the employment "fit for purpose" delivery of these universities.