Foreign Universities in India

Kapil Sibal says,

" The universities that are going to be set up at all in India should have an Indian eco-system. Why should we want an Oxford here? We don’t get children from Eaton and Harrow. But yes, the quality of an Oxford is required in terms of research – of academics, knowledge generation and syllabi flexibility. So we should build institutions which are equivalent to those outside the country. And allow quality to come into the country, because there’s a huge gap between supply and demand. And since demand is going to increase exponentially, because India has a young population, we need to increase the institution of the supply. And all stakeholders – industry, private sector, foreign universities and public partnership should have a chance to participate in the system."

Thanks to Mr Sibal, for understanding, though late, what is required. We at XME were really happy to listen to the news, when flashing on various channels, that our Honorable Minister is doing his job not only well, but great.

Out of 220 million students who attend schools, only 26 million reach college. India needs to cater to approximately 200 million students, have good infrastructure, quality education and should be accessible to all of them. Which country in this world can afford to leave 200 million of its school going students not study further? Can the government make infra and get teachers on their job overnight?

Well, to answer these questions Mr Sibal has initiated the move by inviting foreign universities to build campuses in India. How good or bad is this? Foreign universities are collaborating for research, but are hesitant to set up campuses in India because the Indian government regulations restrict aspects of administration including fees, salary and research grant.

Moreover, Good teachers, syllabus flexibility are as important as good infrastructure and accessibility. Hope, these would be taken care of with time as well. There are good teachers in India, but busy in other professions for money, as current salaries for teachers make it a job for a few who could do nothing better or for those who are really passionate about teaching.

Will this idea work? Will this be accessible to all who need it? We have to wait and see :)

According to XME, this would, but would take some time! 1991, was the year for India-Finance, 2010 could be for India-Education.