Total lesson from crisis

An oversight committee has been appointed to draw up a plan for implementation of the quotas. Three out of the five groups tasked to provide inputs have submitted their reports. Huge investments are recommended. The groups on IITs and IIMs have suggested phased implementation. Some genuine concerns have been raised.

This exercise is restricted to the central higher education institutions. These institutions enrol less than two per cent of the student population. The bulk of the higher education is with the state governments. The base of private higher education is also large and expanding. It would be sad if this exercise is restricted to merely increasing seats in a handful of institutions, overlooking the weaknesses in the system as a whole.

Higher education in India comprises nearly 18,000 institutions. The majority of them are affiliated colleges that enrol 90 per cent students at undergraduate level and 66 per cent at the post-graduate level. India has the highest number of higher education institutions in the world — almost four times that in US and entire Europe and more than seven times the number in China. Many of the Indian institutions are non-viable, understaffed and ill-equipped; two-thirds do not even satisfy the minimum norms of the UGC. All this makes the system highly fragmented, scattered and difficult to manage. There is a strong case for consolidation.

The distribution of capacity across subject areas and at different levels is uneven. For instance, facilities for post-graduate education in medicine are grossly inadequate. While there is heavy demand for some courses, for many others there are no takers.

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