Asian Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Humanities
Year : 2011, Volume : 1, Issue : 4
First page : ( 1) Last page : ( 8)
Online ISSN : 2249-7315.

Challenges to higher education sector In India

Umamaheswari L.*, Assistant Professor

*Department of Agricultural Economics, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College of Agriculture & Research Institute, Karaikal – 609603, Puducherry (UT), India.

Online published on 3 January, 2012.

Abstract

Education is the core input for the progress of a country. Education is necessary to transform human beings into human resources. Human capital is a real indicator of development of a country and welfare of its people. The HDI rank (2010) for India is 134 out of 187 countries and the major deficiency for the low status of India is health and education. The Gross Enrolment Ratio in India is only 18% against the world average of 25%. There also exist disparities in enrolment ratios between urban (19.9%) and rural (6.7%) areas; and by gender, GER is 12.4% for males and 9.1% for females.

Education has been a priority sector of the government in its plans and programs. This has resulted in a quantitative expansion in higher educational institutions in the country but not in qualitative terms. The GATS recognizes education as a tradable commodity and therefore foreign countries have started trading in education as a lucrative source of income generation by offering educational programs in India. Flexibility, relevance and quality are the key attributes of their curriculum and they offer educational programs through various modes like twinning and franchising. The Foreign Education Providers (Regulation) Bill of India (2006) allows foreign direct investment in higher education. To combat the challenges, the higher education system in India should provide curriculum aimed at lifelong learning and enhancing the employability of the graduates. The challenges are to be seen in its human dimension rather in statistical terms.

Top

Keywords

Higher Education, Knowledge.

Top