China overshadows India in Higher Education

The Indian Higher Education Sector is facing a severe competition from China as the latter has been consistently scoring over India for several years. Despite of all the advantages and the government’s enhanced focus on higher studies, India’s top educational and research institutes, including the IITs and IIMs, still lag behind Chinese universities in global ranking.

Recently, a survey conducted by Times Higher Education for World University Rankings has included nine universities from China in its 2012 list of Top 400 as compared to just one from India. Another survey with a name of Guardian Higher Education Network has ranked nine Chinese universities among top 50 Asian universities, while no university from India makes it to the list.

As per Anil Gupta, professor and founder, Honey Bee Network, IIM-Ahmedabad, China has invested heavily in infrastructure, research resources and that too from local councils and state bodies, not just from central government.

Devang V Khakhar, director, IIT-Bombay said that the biggest gap in India lies in the quantum of research. A systematic approach needs to be taken to reform the structure of universities into teaching and research institutions. There is a need for a significantly greater financial support for infrastructure, faculty positions and research facilities. In India while 86% of student’s complete graduation, mere 12% opt for post-graduate education and barely 1% go for research, he added.  In the past 60 years, the number of universities in India has grown 30 folds to 634 in 2011, while the numbers of colleges are 33,023, averaging 55 colleges per university, the UGC report shows.