Higher Schools, Colleges, Technical Education in India

The importance of higher education is increasing day by day in India now. Gone are the days when completing regular Bachelor’s degree was seen as a full stop to education. When it comes to education in India, much has changed in the last two decades.

People are not putting an end to their education after their Bachelors, more and more are opting for higher educational courses that promise high paying jobs and careers. The Government of India has also realized the significance of higher education as this is the best way to invest in the country’s demographic dividend as better education means better income and better economic rate.

At present, India stands at the number three position in the world in the sphere of higher education. We have the highest number of young people in our population with over 100 million college goers. Post independence, the level of higher education in India has significantly grown. Of course, we are still facing challenges in academia and legal rules related to it, but new possibilities are there to achieve.

In India, University Grants Commission (UGC) is the responsible body for designing various programmes and introducing different schemes in the education sector and aiding it with academic, directorial and financial support. Today, there are a large number of colleges and universities offering a wide range of academic and professional higher education courses. A decade ago, one could not even think about the types of courses now available in India.

In this fast growing world with ever changing technologies, more and more private institutions are opening to fill the gap. It is a fact that the Government education institutions are not really in praiseworthy condition at present, on the other hand, the private colleges & universities are not only attracting Indian, but also foreign students from different parts of the world. They have become the main force behind the growing Indian Higher Education sector. The private institutes are excelling in all fields of education like science, medical and technology etc.

They are equipped with all necessary educational infrastructure, highly educated faculties and research facilities. Unlike the Government institutes, they are the first ones to introduce the latest curriculum for students and international education exchange programs.

With Higher Schools, Colleges, Technical Education field in India still calling for an enormous level of advancement and improvement to be done, the main source of change is seen in the form of private colleges and universities. Experts from the sectors opine that improvement is a long process and step by step we can achieve a lot. The academic institutions should follow the best practices when it comes to accreditation and evaluation.

Then, the main focus of any educational institute should be on its primary strength, the faculties. They should be research focused and should always update themselves with the new changes in education and the relevant industry engagement through efficient mentoring of pupils in order to prepare ‘Class One’ professionals of the future who can again return to the country in one or other form.

A worriable fact in India is about the employment – a major part of people doing graduation in technology is not considered worth employable by the IT/ITES industry. Another haunting fact comes from the management studies - only 20% - 30% students are considered employable. It is high time now that some big steps are taken in this direction for addressing this very important issue in order to make more and more students employable.

Another useful suggestion comes from the academic experts is that the generic academic model should be transformed into a learner-centered one. At college and university level, students should be prepared enough for facing all kinds of situations in their future careers through their strength and abilities developed during their academic years.

With all the present complexities and gaps in the higher education sector of India, the signals are clear enough to predict that with a push to the ongoing process of changes will definitely bring good results and take the Indian higher education to a never before seen level.