Overview

While, there is a distinctive buzz about PM Modi’s campaign for Make-in-India and other economic reforms, the investment in human capital through quality education holds the key to inclusive development of the burgeoning Indian economy. As an initial step Ministry of Human Resources & Development had set a target of 30 percent GER (Gross Enrollment Ratio) for India by 2020, which currently stands at 19 percent. To achieve this target, India needs 40 million students to be enrolled in the higher education system by 2020. The present education industry caters to approximately 18.5 million students enrolled in the higher education sector. Looking at the increasing number of students coming out from the school system against the inadequate capacity of the higher education system to absorb this mass number of students, it is evident that the target is an extremely difficult one to achieve. We need to create an additional capacity of 25 million seats over the next decade and this requires an additional 10,510 technical institutions, 15,530 colleges and 521 universities!