Higher Education in India: Some recent developments in

expansion and inclusion

Shyam Menon University of Delhi

India

India has had a lot of catching up to do:

. in many sectors of development

including higher education

• Overcoming – the debilitating effects of colonialism – the consequences of being a late-comer to

industrialization

• Challenged with the realities of globalization

Growth of Higher Education since Independence

1950-‘51 2006

Universities 27 367 (including 10 private universities)

Colleges 600 18,000 (of which about 10,000 are maintained by government grants)

Students 174,000 (0.05% of the population)

11 million (1% of the population)

A wide variation in enrolment across the type of

programs and levels

2003-’04 figures

Enrolment % Enrolment

Diploma programs (eg., Polytechnics)

1,191,447 10.64

Undergraduate Studies in liberal disciplines

8,026,147 71.66

Technical / Professional Studies

1,110,840 9.92

Graduate Studies and Research Degrees

872,161 7.79

Total 11,200,595 100

Enrollment rate in the relevant age group

India World average

Developing countries

Countries in transition

Developed countries

13% 23% 11% 36.5% 54.6%

The rate of participation in the up-market, ‘institutions of excellence’

is perhaps less than 2 % of the relevant age group

Enrollment rate is considerably less than the national average for:

• the Poor

• the Marginalized Social Groups

• those who live in rural areas and

• Women

Factors contributing to the narrow social base, exclusivity and stratification of higher education

• The Indian society is highly stratified along – economic lines– social groupings– urban-rural divide and – gender

• The fractured nature of the school system.

The School System in India

Two distinct, vertically stratified systems:

• Mainstream, State-run Schools

• A relatively small segment of

Private Schools

The Mainstream School System

• State funded• Vernacular Languages as Media of

Instruction. • High drop-out rate, more than 80 per cent

between classes 1 and 12. • Only, a relatively small proportion of those

graduating out of this system enter higher education, particularly the up-market HE institutions

Private School System

• considerably smaller in volume • most of them are virtually ‘for-profit’

institutions• English as medium of instruction. • This system has an impressive

rate of completion. • vertically linked and well-integrated with

higher education, particularly its “up-market” segment

There is however enormous heterogeneity within each of these two school systems

The Policy Environment

• Policy orientations oscillate between two polarities:

– the pressures of the market economy

and

– the realities of the political economy

• After several years of growth oriented economic policies, the pendulum of policy orientation now seems to have begun swinging the other way.

• One hears more often these days than

five years back such phrases like: – “inclusive economic growth”

and – “inclusive education”

The most recent initiative for making Higher Education more inclusive:

• An Act of Parliament which came into force in early January 2007.

Reserves an additional quota of 27% of intake in institutions of higher

education maintained by the federal government to marginalized social

groups listed in the Constitution as “Backward Castes”

• This is in addition to a quota of 22.5% already in existence in all educational institutions for marginalized social groups included in the Constitution in the list of “scheduled castes” and “scheduled tribes”

• Thus, there will now be 49.5% of the total seats in the institutions maintained by the federal government reserved for marginalized social groups.

• Almost all premier institutions of higher education are maintained by the federal government

• Some of the states have already legislated reservation of such a large quota for marginalized social groups in higher education institutions under their domain

The new Act of Parliament has generated a debate:• Is the quota-based reservation the best

way of affirmative action? • Aren’t the benefits of quota system being

monopolized by the more affluent and privileged among the targeted social groups?

(This, relatively better off segment among the marginalized social groups, is termed

as ‘creamy layer’)

The tussle between Supreme Court and the

Parliament over the ‘creamy layer’ • Supreme Court direction of October 2006 that

the ‘creamy layer’ should be left out of the provision of quota-based reservations in government jobs and education.

• This is seen as judicial trespassing into the domain of the legislature.

• The Act of Parliament (January 2007) does not comply with the ruling of the Supreme Court about the ‘creamy layer’.

• Surely, we have not heard the last on this.

The present Quota system is quite likely to widen drastically the social base of public higher education.

– (whether or not this is the most appropriate model of affirmative action)

But, the real bottleneck remains within the school system, particularly at the level of elementary school.

The Act of Parliament (January 2007) also stipulates:

the number of places available in higher education to those other than the quota-beneficiaries is not reduced from the 2006 levels.

• This would imply a net increase in enrolment to the tune of about 54% in the next three years in the existing institutions

• The eleventh five year plan is expected to provide enough resources to support an increase in the national enrollment rate from the present 13% to 18-20% by 2012

• A massive infrastructural plan for higher education in the offing.

The Government will also have to ensure that this massive expansion does not dilute in any manner its efforts at supporting excellence and quality

The government expenditure on higher

education will have to increase drasitically:

– From its present 0.5% of GDP

– To about 1.5% of GDP

Alternative sources of finance are also being explored actively

• It is likely that there will soon be a more enabling policy environment for a major increase in private investment in higher education

• The Politics favors faster expansion and greater inclusion.

• How far will the Economics back it up?