India will need to significantly step up efforts in higher education if it is to get to the target of being a $5-trillion economy by 2024. The human capital development that realising this vision for the economy, Mohandas Pai and Nisha Holla argue in their new report for Ficci, will require, among other things, more meaningful public-private partnership in tertiary education, with the government increasing its spending while directing it through private sector players to maintain high levels of both quality of education and affordability & accessibility.
India, to be sure, has made considerable progress in higher education, also in terms of improving social equity in higher ed. The share of women in the tertiary level student population is increasing fast, while representation of socially disadvantaged groups in the student pool is nearing the share of these groups in the overall population. But, the progress is vastly different among states. For instance, Tamil Nadu, in AISHE 2018-19, emerges as a leader while Bihar has been left far behind by the rest of India. Policy makers need to take note of this. But, higher education gains doesn’t translate into employment gains for the state—for jobs, the level of industrialisation and urbanisation makes a huge difference.
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Source: Financial Express
