India is a big, crazy, multi-faceted, barely-functioning-but-still-
The indigenous tradition of higher education stretches back to the 6th century AD. Back then, Nalanda University was a world-centre of (mostly) Buddhist learning, which attracted students from Nepal, China, Southeast Asia, and Tibet. Nalanda was also the first university with student dorms, and (allegedly) developed the first library cataloguing system. But since Nalanda was destroyed by the Mamluks in the 12th century, its influence on modern Indian higher education has been zero. Rather, the roots of the current education system can be traced to a very small number of institutions founded in the mid-nineteenth century by the British.
As in many colonial systems, these universities both bred nationalist revolutionaries, and gave those same revolutionaries an unshakeable belief that the English education system at the time of independence was the pinnacle of human achievement and should never be altered on any account whatsoever. Which was a bit of a problem since those institutions were almost entirely Humanities-based with little by the way of Social Sciences, let alone the hard Sciences and Engineering. That was (almost) OK if you thought of universities primarily as a place for civil service training; it wasn’t even vaguely OK if you wanted to build an advanced economy.
The basic institutional division in contemporary Indian higher education is between “universities”, which can grant degrees, and “colleges”, which cannot; the colleges are all affiliated to universities, meaning that college students take the exams of the affiliated university and receive their credential from there (remember BC’s university colleges in the late-80s/early 90s? Like that). Colleges don’t get to choose their affiliate university; rather, each university has a geographic “catchment area” in which it has an effective monopoly.
Today, there are roughly 550 universities and 33,000 colleges. (In case you’re wondering, that works out to an average enrolment per college of about 500, which from an efficiency point of view is madness.) Most universities are funded by state governments, but the central government directly funds about 40 universities (mainly prestigious ones like Delhi U.). It also funds another 110 or so “degree-awarding institutions”, which are not technically universities – the world-famous Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and Management (IIM) come under this heading. There are also another 12,000 or so diploma institutions, which, if you squint hard enough, are analogous to our community colleges.
Though India is often thought of as quite statist, its higher education system has a very large private sector – in fact, pretty much the largest in the entire world. Of those 550 universities, roughly 200 are private, as are about 19,000 of the 33,000 colleges, and 55% of the student body is enrolled in private institutions. Complicating things still further is the fact that some private universities (mainly ones that were founded before the 1970s) receive quite substantial grants, while others receive nothing; on the flip side, cash-strapped public universities now run a large number of full-cost-recovery programs, and therefore are themselves substantially privately funded.
Managing a system like this is pretty chaotic – all the more so when you have an insane regulatory system, plus conflicting and insistent demands both to focus on access and to improve quality. But more about that next time.
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I was born in India and I got my B.E. at a private university and an ME at the Indian Institute of Science. I have also studied at US and Canadian universities. I think I am in a reasonable position to comment on this subject. I also forwarded it to a relative of mine who lives in India He has a BE degree and is an entrepreneur having started a manufacturing plant in India. I copy below my comments as well as those of my relative in India. I have not edited my relative’s e-mail for any errors.
MY COMMENTS
Subject: Re: HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIA
Dear Madhu,
I just read a 3-part article on higher education in India. I found it extremely interesting and, even though it is written by a white guy in Canada, I completely agree with his analysis and conclusions. I thought you might be interested in reading the article, but you might reach different conclusions. But, whatever you do, do not dismiss it as some sort of an insult by a Westerner towards India. That conclusion would indeed be unfortunate and wrong.
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To: Baily and Lynne Seshagiri
Date: Thursday, 04/12/2014 12:06 AM
Education in India is a huge racket with people from different backgrounds jostling for market shares .The victims are the gullible parents and the aspiring students The consequence of this has resulted in generation of diplomas degrees and even doctorates with little value How has this come around .Un like during our times the Govt of the day has little involvement in education and where there is one it is callous About15 to 20 % of the children in the school going age get admitted to schools which are run by private bodies who’s sole purpose is profits .These schools produce crammers with little emphasis on learning .children attending. these schools come from the upper middle class and above The weaker sections of the society have no option but to have their children attend govt schools .These schools do not even have teachers let alone equipped ones For these unfortunate lot by the time they reach their teens they are at the end of the school going Journey becoming automatic drop outs This unfortunate situation results in only 10 to 15 percent of the school going children seeing through basic school education College education is even a bigger racket particularly engineering and medicine Only about one Percent of the students coming out of schools get admitted to a decent professional course Others aspiring for professional courses depend on colleges which extract huge capitation fees which are mind boggling numbers These institutions which take capitation fees are very poorly equipped with a faculty which is pathetic .These colleges turn out students who are unemployable The other kind of racket is the p.hD kind of education Scientists are the ones behind this exploitation This is a kind of mafia which is well entrenched like the P2 .This is a tight knit group with very little chance for outsiders to penetrate A cozy club with the prime objective of looking after their interests This is the group which uses up the govt funds ,staggering amounts ,which has done the greatest disservice to the Indian republic over he last sixty years .There seems to be little threat to this body which indeed is a cause for anxiety .The other day I was talking to a friend of mine a decent Bridge player ,who happens to be a scientist ,who was telling me how science in India has been ruined by this cozy club Nobel Laureate Shiva Rama Krishnan on being receipt of the prestigious award said the very people who shunned him during his early days were busy claiming their association with him when he was still wet behind his ears .I think this says it all.I am no educationalist nor have any exposure to universities However over the last 45 years have been associated with youngsters and my interaction with them gives me an un easy feeling the quality of students produced leaves much to be desired
Thanks for this! Much appreciated.
You are most welcome.