And you thought allowing foreign universities into India will bridge the yawning gap in higher education? Think again
If the HRD minister Kapil Sibal thinks that by allowing foreign universities he can help significantly more Indians to graduate then that’s not going to happen. Since the bill allowing for the entry of foreign universities was approved, a handful of universities have shown interest. And the big names: Harvard, Cambridge, Yale, Stanford? They won’t be coming any time soon.
These institutions have built themselves over hundreds of years. They will not risk cutting down on quality by creating a satellite campus that does not live up to the quality that they can offer on their home campus.
Besides, the number of students that India needs to graduate is so huge that foreign universities just can’t deliver. Nor can the Indian government.
India needs to send 22 million people to college in 2014, an increase of 8 million from the 14 million that it currently sends. The National Knowledge Commission thinks that at least 50 world class universities can be set up over the “medium term”. It costs at least Rs. 3 lakh per student to set up a world class university. If each of these 50 universities enrolls 10,000 students, the government would need Rs. 15,000 crore and the country will only have an extra half a million kids in college; way short of the eight million needed.
Here is a thought. Allow for-profit institutions. The models in three countries hold a lot of promise: Singapore, Malaysia and China.
Singapore tried to create regional educational hubs by attracting top-flight foreign universities. Its model was highly regulated. No one was allowed in unless the Economic Development Board of Singapore invited them and scrutinised them under a series of very strict measures.
(This story appears in the 04 June, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)