India, a knowledge super power

The role of FDI and improved infrastructure are important factors in meeting the challenges in the higher education sector in the 21century, stresses Kapil Sibal at the release of the fourth edition of EDVANTAGE, organised by Economic Times
India has a tremendous advantage of being a nation with one of the largest and youngest populations. But at the same time, the challenge is to channel this demographic advantage.
Globally, Indian professionals are considered among the best in their fields and are in great demand due to their expertise . It signifies the inherent strength of the higher education system and its ability to prepare young professionals to make a mark in the global scenario.
Addressing the audience at the fourth edition of EDVANTAGE 'India : The Education Superpower,' organised by the Economic Times, Kapil Sibal, Union Minister, Ministry of Human Resource Development and Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MHRD and MCIT), said that the higher education sector in the country is in a bad shape. Future of education doesn't lie necessarily in building institutions.
"Talking of higher education, most of the state universities in India are in exceptionally bad shape. The average student community in an Indian university is 2500-3000 , whereas the average student community in quality public or private university anywhere in the world is between 20,000 to 40,000."
According to Sibal, the solution to this problem is creating a dedicated national knowledge network that will connect all students to each other and it will connect all students to faculty members anywhere in India.
"Through the national knowledge network , we are going to connect all the 35,000 colleges and the 604 universities in India. Around 400 universities and 14000 colleges have already been connected and in next few months all the rest will also be connected to a capacity of 2mbps," Sibal added.
Though systems are being placed, there is a huge gap when it comes to awareness. "We need to bring awareness within the university system and the student community," averred Sibal. The minister also pointed out that once the connectivity between the IT sector and students is maintained, the issue of pedagogy would not exist any further.
Talking about FDI in higher education, he said, "None of the reforms are possible by the government alone. Private investments in higher education are far more important than school education. Our policy framework should allow that investment to take place. All knowledge is collaborative. The global community must be involved to meet the challenges of the 21century, which cannot be done unless we allow FDI to be involved in the venture."
Sibal stressed that once we have the infrastructure in place and the FDI involved, the kind of collaboration that will come out of it will be mind boggling. Education is a subject, which should not get contentious in terms of political ideologies.
Prof SS Mantha, chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), R P Sisodia, joint secretary, Higher Education and Minority Education, MHRD, Anshul Sonak, presidentcorporate , Core Education and Technologies Ltd, Dilip K Bandopadhyay, vice chancellor, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, also shared their key perspectives on making the country a knowledge super power.
At a glance
None of the reforms are possible by the government alone. Private investments in higher education are far more important than school education. Our policy framework should allow that investment to take place. All knowledge is collaborative (Kapil Sibal)