GROWTH OF QUALITY HIGHER EDUCATION : ROLE OF STATES AND PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

HIGHER EDUCATION SCENARIO 

 India's future largely depend on how well we equip our students and youth to meet emerging challenges of Viksit Bharat 2047.In this context state public universities have been playing a pivotal role. For the last 7 decades the country witnessed vibrant growth and expansion of State Public Universities (SPU)s.They have been responsible to increase both access to affordable higher education requirements and also addressing the regional imbalances in higher education. Establishment of premier institutions like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)Indian Institutes of Management, Central Universities, and other institutions of excellence was the main visionary attempts of the nation  in  India's higher education development. Currently we have 21 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs),23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) 56 Central Universities in addition to good number of engineering and Medical Colleges. Most importantly India's large number of State Public Universities (around 500) is estimated to cater for 81% of total student enrollment among India's higher education institutions. Accordingly they act as the backbone of interconnected educational ecosystem serving crores of students across diverse regions and socio economic backgrounds in the country. 

NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICIES 

After the National Policy of education in 1986 was released which was later updated in 1992 with program of Action, However the major breakthrough came with the establishment of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in 1994 in order to maintain and enhance the quality of of higher education. After the introduction of liberalisation policies Government established the National Knowledge Commission on policies related to transforming  India with Universities and higher educational institutions to reach global standards by undertaking  innovation,more multidisciplinary approach towards quality,along with striving for acquiring equity,excellence, traditional knowledge and intellectual property Rights (IPR).New Education policy (NEP) 2020  recommended establishment of the Academic Bank of Credits for seamless credit transfer, Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) to boost research and innovation, Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) and other constituent bodies like National Higher Education Regulatory Council  (NHERC)  and National Accreditational Council (NAC).It also proposed  a Gender Inclusion Fund and Special Education Zones to support Socially and Educationally Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs). New Policy also emphasised integration of technology in education through initiatives- National Education Technology Forum (NETF) and the National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR).

ROLE OF STATE PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES 

Recently released NITI Aayog report on "Expanding Quality Higher Education Through SPUs " indicated that state public universities contribute to the largest share of higher education followed by state private universities. Both type of universities witnessed dynamic growth especially during the last ten years. University density data or the total number of universities per 1 lakh population( 18-23 yearsof age) showed that national average university density being 0.8,Sikkim had the highest density  of 10.3 followed by Arunachal Pradesh 10.3,Ladak, Himachal Pradesh 47),Meghalaya(20) and Uttarakhand.(37) BIhar reported the lowest density ratio of 0.2. It may be noted here that National average was 30 in 2022 where in Karnataka .ranked first with  a density of 66 followed by states of Telengana(52),Andhra Pradesh,(49) and Kerala (46).On the other hand Bihar reported only 7 as density followed by Jharkand8.The Gross Enrollment Ratio measures the number of students enrolled in higher education as a percentage of the eligible population in the age group of 18 to 23years.Tamil Nadu (47),,UT of Chandigarh and Puducherry have shown maximum improvement followed  by Kerala (41.3),Telengana (40),Andhra Pradesh (46.5)Karnataka (36.2),and Maharashtra (35.3) which have GER higher than the national average of 28.4.With regard to financing of higher education India has invested 1.57% of GDP on tertiary education in 2021 higher than that of European nations but slightly below that of USA and UK in the same year. The combined spending of both Centre and states must be increased to 6% of GDP. Moreover there should be healthy competition among all universities especially public state universities to constantly thrive for providing high quality education and research to students .

POLICY IMPLICATIONS. 

 Attaining quality higher education requires increasing investment along with tackling challenges of curriculum, enrollment, infrastructure, quality  equity, Accreditation ,good regulatory framework etc. Ragging in campuses and hostels should be effectively banned. Excess politicisation of the campuses and allowing students with more than one arrears in courses to contest as representative of students or council must  be  stopped.For enhancing quality it is always ideal to  implement Global Initiatives for Academic Networks (GLAN ) Program to invite academicians,entrepreneurs, Scientists and experts from Premier institutions across the world and impart their knowledge to our students in higher educational institutions. As far as internationalisation of our higher educational institutions to attract foreign students are concerned the main  challenges are inconsistent quality across institutions, inadequate facilities with global standards, poor research capabilities, lack of marketing and branding to attract international students, Visa complexities, cultural adaptation challenges, concerns about infrastructure and significant gap between skills imparted and those required in the job market and regulatory challenges. For internationalisation of higher education it is highly desirable to concentrate on the 4 modes of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) namely 1.Cross border supply 2.Consumption abroad 3.Commercial presence and 4.Movement of natural persons. In any case currently it is estimated that there are over 1.33 million Indian students studying abroad in 2024  with most popular destinations of USA, Canada, UK,  Australia,Germany etc attracted largely by factors like access to better quality education, career opportunities, and global exposure.On the contrary number of foreign students enrolled in  Indian institutions were only 46878 in 2021-22.Evidently this calls for a planned and a concerted effort by both Centre and states for enhancing the investment in higher education along with upgradation of academic standards,  skills, innovation and research upto to the international level. Once our higher education levels reach the global standards not only we can check the outflows of Indian students abroad but also we can attract more foreign students to our country. If India has to make a quantum jump forward to become a developed nation with  its  leverage of  " demographic dividend,  ".Country must place higher education on the center of it's development strategy. The future of India depends not only on  the quantity of graduates it produces but obviously on the quality of education and research.