Higher Education

Time for the Bear to be Bullish on Indian Higher Education

Leave a Comment / Education, Higher Education, Public Policy, World Economy /

Time for the Bear to be Bullish on Indian Higher Education Time for the Bear to be Bullish on Indian Higher Education Saravanan M January 30, 2026 Education, Higher Education, Public Policy, World Economy In the late 1950s and early 1960s, four Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) were established with the support of four countries– the Soviet Union (now the Russian Federation), the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. While the latter three are amongst the most favourite higher education destinations of Indian students, along with Canada and Australia, Russia still punches below its weight. However, the current global situation presents an opportune moment for Russia to become a top higher education provider, through a strategic educational partnership with India. Why India? India reclaimed its position as the leading country of origin for international students in 2023–24, overtaking China, which had held the top spot since 2009–10. India had also been the largest source of international students for eight successive years prior to that. Together, India and China account for more than 50 per cent of all international students worldwide. Russia has a total student population of about 4 million, of which international students constitute nearly 8 per cent. A majority of these students come from India, China, and CIS countries. Although Russia maintains cordial relations with both India and China, historically it has shared a comparatively more stable and long-standing partnership with India. Moreover, given China’s growing economic presence and its ambition to develop as a global higher education hub, India emerges as a more strategically favourable partner for Russia across sectors, particularly in higher education. In recent years, Russia has been gaining increasing attention among Indian students. The number of Indian students in the country grew from nearly 20,000 in 2022 to over 31,000 in 2024. In contrast to other major destinations such as the US, the UK, and Canada, where Indian student enrolment has fluctuated due to policy changes and other factors, Russia has experienced continuous and gradual growth in the number of Indian students choosing its universities. Global Context Almost all major economic powers are becoming increasingly protectionist. The Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement in the US has intensified tariff barriers against several countries and tightened visa regulations. Consequently, the US may experience structural shifts in its economy and polity, including the higher education sector. The underlying narrative driving these shifts is the belief that immigrants are taking away jobs meant for Americans. While the quality of higher education is a key driver of student mobility, the prospect of post-graduation employment is an equally crucial determinant. With the current headwinds facing immigrants in the US job market, it is unlikely that the inflow of international students into American universities will continue to grow at the same pace. The Canadian and the UK economies are also facing challenges, with reports of rising unemployment among young immigrant graduates in Canada. Australian higher education is expensive compared to Germany and Russia. Given the prevalent situation, Russia would not find a more favourable period to strengthen the international segment of its higher education system. Untapped Indian Higher Education Space The Indian higher education landscape has undergone drastic changes over the years. From being largely an importer of educational services by sending its students abroad, the country is in the process of internationalising its domestic sector. Internationalising the curriculum is at the core of many Indian universities. Following the 2022 UGC regulations, Indian universities have begun collaborating with foreign universities through joint, twinning, and pathway programs. As per news reports, Deakin University, University of Wollongong, Victoria University, Western Sydney University from Australia; Istituto Europeo di Design from Italy; University of Southampton and University of Liverpool from the UK; and Illinois Institute of Technology from the US have received approval to establish their campuses in India, under 2023 UGC regulations. In the near future, these developments are expected to cater to a segment of Indian students, who would otherwise study abroad. Even for those who seek an overseas campus experience, short-term immersion courses can be designed to ensure foreign experience. The unused potential of India for foreign institutions is humongous, and Russia is well-positioned to leverage it for mutual benefit. Russian Strength Russia is reputed for producing world-class mathematicians, doctors, physicists, chemists and programmers, among others. STEM programs account for 55 per cent of total international enrolments. As Russia already offers a bouquet of STEM programs, including programs in English language, Indian students would find Russia very suitable. The decades-old technological and cultural relationship that India and Russia have will facilitate a stronger educational partnership. Russia already has a strong base with the India-specific plan, like Russian-Indian Network, supported by IIT-Bombay. All it needs to do is scale up and expedite the process. Language may not be a major hindrance, as Indian students also study in Germany, France, Japan, China, Korea, where most programs are not taught in English. Win-Win Partnership Russia has already averred its willingness for “no limits” strategic partnership with India, similar to its existing arrangement with China. When intent is positive, the global situation is conducive, and the Indian policy ecosystem is welcoming, there is every reason to believe that the long-neglected sector of higher education would get the attention it deserves. Strengthening this partnership would not only advance education, research, and innovation, but also enhance the soft power of both nations. Dr.M Saravanan, is specialised in Higher Education and Founder Secretary of the AgaPuram Policy Research Centre, Erode. Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of the AgaPuram Policy Research Centre.

Time for the Bear to be Bullish on Indian Higher Education Read More »

‘Bolognaising’ Indian Higher €ducation

Leave a Comment / Economic Reforms, Education, Higher Education /

‘Bolognaising’ Indian Higher €ducation ‘Bolognaising’ Indian Higher €ducation Saravanan M February 16, 2025 Economic Reforms, Education, Higher Education India is a subcontinent with astounding diversity. It is reflected in many aspects including its higher education system, which is as heterogeneous as it gets. However, this heterogeneity stems from the various practices within different State boundaries, due to which the higher education system and institutions operate in silos, restricting even inter-university mobility of students, faculty members, and researchers within a State. Promoting diversity would not only strengthen the higher education system, but also fortify the foundations for re-establishing real world-class institutions in India and internationalising Indian higher education.  Despite the inter-state differences, India is one big, centrally regulated educational space, unlike the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), which is the fruit of the Bologna Process. However, the sector is highly disjointed, with various states and their institutions working separately with different administrative policies, curricula, quality parameters, etc. This is where the Indian Government needs to ‘bolognise’ the sector and anchor a whole plan of creating a practically working national grid for higher education in which all the stakeholders are incentivised and encouraged to improve quality, enhance equity, and determine common and comparable standards for mobility. Bologna Process To this end, India can take a cue from the Bologna Process implemented in Europe, which aimed at aligning various higher education systems of several member countries of Europe into one coherent common system, among other things. The Process also targeted establishing equivalence of higher education provided by various member countries, besides aiming at enhancing the quality of and access to higher education and promoting student mobility. These objectives are the prime goals of any higher education policymaker the world over. While access, excellence, and equity are usually the focus of policymaking in the Indian context, the mobility of students gets hardly any spotlight. A basic comparison between India and Europe would illuminate the feasibility of such a process. There are 28 States in India, just one short of the number of member countries that were originally part of the Bologna initiative in 1999. European Union has 24 official languages vis-à-vis 22 official languages in India. In terms of geography, there are 49 countries as members of the harmonised higher education landscape called European Higher Education Area (EHEA), which is far bigger than India. However, Europe has comparatively a smaller population. With all these challenges, the Bologna Process successfully established one harmonised higher education region, removing unnecessary impediments between member nations and their institutions and promoted mobility. Creating such a practically working mechanism requires two key elements:  A well-functioning system and incentives for stakeholders to onboard the system. Pathways for Mobility Many systemic initiatives introduced by the UGC following the National Education Policy 2020 act as jigsaw pieces, which would fit together to create a system that will promote mobility of students. Take, for instance, Academic Bank of Credit (ABC), which helps in the accumulation, retrieval, and transfer of academic credits. All the students enrolled will get a unique identification number that helps track their progress from the school level itself, regardless of the institutions and programmes they continue to study. This has already been initiated and is at various degrees of achievement across the country. Thus, the pathway for mobility is being created for students to do a single programme from multiple institutions, based on the academic credits on the ABC platform. However, this may not enable the mobility of students even between those institutions that are equally ranked, accredited, and popular, because of lack of incentives to do so. Incentivising Mobility Institutions that promote student mobility may be financially incentivised in terms of annual block grants from the Central government. Or, the grants may be based on the number of students from other institutions enrolled with them for completing a part of a programme. The UGC or the Union Ministry needs to provide financial incentives for mobility, or else the full potential of ABC will remain untapped. Research proposals submitted for Central funding from agencies like UGC, DST, SERB etc may be prioritised for institutions that have a track record on student mobility. Further, joint proposals from faculty members working in multiple institutions may be prioritised over proposals from a single institution. Additional weightage may be given during the accreditation and ranking process to institutions that facilitate student mobility. Regulatory liberty may be accorded to those institutions that encourage the mobility of students, similar to the categorisation of universities by the UGC. Autonomy always helps institutions and is a big motivator. Enhanced student mobility would impact faculty mobility as well. Faculty mobility may be relatively tricky due to legal and monetary issues. However, incentives could certainly be finalised to promote faculty mobility across higher education institutions, and at a later stage between academia and industry or bureaucracy. Conclusion Quality of higher education improves with increased diversity of faculty and students. For this to happen, knowledge creators need to collaborate and interact seamlessly and constantly. An enabling incentivising policy alone could promote a climate conducive to such mobility. With the NEP also according importance to internationalisation of our system, the quality must be improved expeditiously, so that when overseas institutions intensify their plans and increase their presence, domestic universities come up trumps. A highly networked and mobile Indian higher education is a prerequisite for an Indianised internationalisation of the sector. Dr.M Saravanan, is specialised in Higher Education and Founder Secretary of the AgaPuram Policy Research Centre, Erode. Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of the AgaPuram Policy Research Centre. This article was originally first published at https://thebangaloremonitor.com/?p=3210

‘Bolognaising’ Indian Higher €ducation Read More »

Promoting Autonomy in Indian Higher Education System

Leave a Comment / Education, Higher Education /

Promoting Autonomy in Indian Higher Education System by Dr. M.Saravanan Promoting Autonomy in Indian Higher Education System Saravanan M February 8, 2025 Education, Higher Education Autonomy is one of the most essential ingredients for the success of an individual or institution. In the context of higher education, the trade-off between granting autonomy and fixing responsibility has been one of the most discussed policy dimensions. The NEP 2020 identified “limited teacher and institutional autonomy” as one of the major problems plaguing the higher education system in India and prescribed enhancing autonomy, following which the UGC undertook various measures to improve autonomy. Since the late 1970s, the UGC has been granting “autonomous” status to colleges. This has freed the colleges from the shackles of the affiliation system by enabling them to finalise their curriculum, syllabi, and conduct evaluations. The 2023 regulation promotes granting of autonomy status to more colleges, yet ensures that only colleges of certain quality—at least 10 years of existence and valid institutional or programmatic accreditation — are given autonomy. However, unlike the previous regulations, exemptions on eligibility regarding the period of existence and accreditation have been allowed to those colleges that offer programs in unique disciplines like special education, Indian Knowledge System, yoga, defence studies, skill development, sports, languages and also programs addressing the strategic needs of the country and engaged in the preservation of Indian cultural heritage. This provides a level playing field for existing specialized colleges to be on par with new greenfield universities. However, the regulation may also have to ensure that these colleges become multidisciplinary in a phased manner, or else it may lead to non-conformity with the expectations of NEP, which is against uni-disciplinarity. Another initiative promoting institutional autonomy is the regulatory changes for granting “Deemed University” status to the existing colleges, wherein existing colleges under different sponsoring bodies are allowed to cluster into a new institution and apply for university status, subject to eligibility conditions. This allows for collaborations and also consolidation of smaller colleges into multi-disciplinary institutions. As teachers of a university, the teachers are immediately bestowed with utmost autonomy in academic matters, which were hitherto not available to them as teachers of a college. The availability of adequate and quality teachers has always been an issue area of concern, given the high vacancies in most universities. Further, there was a policy straightjacket in terms of recruitment and eligibility norms, excluding seasoned industry practitioners from academia. This has been addressed by permitting institutions to hire “Professors of Practice” from industry for three years in an institution. This helps institutions attract precious talent with practical industry experience and infuse new ideas. It also allows practitioners to toggle between industry and academia and pollinate ideas across organisations. Another helpful idea mooted is the usage of summer vacations, which was hitherto used by many institutions mostly for internships and apprenticeships. Henceforth, the institutions are explicitly encouraged to tailor their academic calendar in such a way that evaluations may be conducted on demand. Further, the institutions are encouraged to offer the regular courses during the summer vacation “on a fast-track mode to enable students to do additional courses or complete backlogs in coursework.” In addition, faculty members are encouraged to decide on the pattern of assessments, where a higher proportion of total assessment may be earmarked for internal assessment by the faculty themselves and not depend much on terminal or external evaluations. Thus, any form of internal assessment like class tests, homework assignments, closed-book and open-book tests; problem-based assignments; practical assignment laboratory reports; and observation of practical skills could be adopted. Though these are nothing new, as some institutions have already adopted these, the regulator now explicitly urges the teachers and institutions to exercise their academic autonomy to the fullest. The real autonomy, however, is reserved for students: The UGC has mandated that the Choice-Based Credit System (CBCS), introduced two decades ago, include vocational courses related to the discipline, as part of the new curriculum guidelines, enriching job prospects for interested students in vocational streams and also for those who exit the programs at the end of the first or second year. The general practice is to complete a degree program without a break. However, the new credit and curriculum framework permits a student to take breaks midway and resume the degree program within a maximum duration of seven years. In addition to permitting students to study two degrees simultaneously, including one online degree, students can migrate from one institution to another using credits accumulated on the academic bank of credit, a repository of all the credits earned by the students from all the successfully completed courses. Though the real effect would be felt only when the institutions make necessary facilitations to allow portability into and outside their institutions, the ball has been set rolling in this regard. It is hoped that more autonomy-granting regulations like granting degree awarding powers to the existing colleges, as envisaged in the NEP would be provided at the opportune time. It is also hoped that the institutions and the State governments work towards ensuring that institutions enjoy autonomy and deliver responsibly. Dr.M Saravanan, is specialised in Higher Education and Founder Secretary of the AgaPuram Policy Research Centre, Erode. Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of the AgaPuram Policy Research Centre.

Promoting Autonomy in Indian Higher Education System Read More »

Internationalising Indian Higher Education by Dr. M.Saravanan

Leave a Comment / Higher Education, Public Policy /

Internationalising Indian Higher Education by Dr. M.Saravanan Internationalising Indian Higher Education Saravanan M January 31, 2025 Higher Education, Public Policy The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 marks a historic shift in the policymaking for higher education as it aims to internationalise the quality of higher education, while simultaneously attempting to Indianise the sector. Various policy prescriptions of NEP encompass promoting Indian languages, conferring primacy to the mother-tongue at primary schooling, and covering Indian knowledge systems, including tribal knowledge and indigenous and traditional ways of learning, in various disciplines. These would instil a sense of rootedness and pride in India and its rich, diverse, and ancient culture. A detailed discussion about the policy paths for Indianisation would require a devoted space. However, a nation that intends to internationalise its higher education needs to focus on its indigenous strengths to offer a unique and real international learning experience and avoid being a clone of another international education model. The NEP has green-signalled a formal process to internationalise higher education, a topic hitherto witnessed at the margins of policymaking and not as the core. Further, the NEP aims to the improve mobility of students, teachers and researchers across nations, establish highest global standards in education, and nurture young minds to be global citizens exposed to diverse cultures. To this end, it has defined the purpose of education at the sectoral and institutional level, highlighted the different roles institutions of different quality and focus are expected to play, and how knowledge is to be created and disseminated. This perfectly aligns with the definition of the internationalisation of higher education by the eminent scholar, Prof. Jane Knight. While under the ongoing Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA) scheme, some public universities are being supported to enhance their quality and also to collaborate with foreign universities, just as was done in the previous avatar of the scheme, where it went with the name of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), efforts have also been taken up to improve the quality and global standing of institutions under Institutions of Excellence (IoE) programme. While these are generic efforts to improve institutions that would also lead to internationalisation, the UGC has come up with targeted measures to promote internationalisation. In May 2022, the UGC introduced its Regulation delineating the various options of higher education programmes that domestic and foreign institutions can offer collaboratively, like twinning programmes, joint-degrees, dual degrees etc. It also set the conditions for such collaborations and set eligibility standards for the institutions in terms of NAAC accreditation, NIRF or global rankings, to ensure that only institutions of certain proven quality are allowed to collaborate with globally reputed and well-ranked foreign institutions. The UGC also urged all the institutions to set up an Office of International Affairs to function as a single point of contact to take up all necessary action for collaborations with foreign institutions and teacher-student mobility. As per the information available on the website of the UGC, a total of 235 Indian higher education institutions are eligible to collaborate with foreign institutions to offer Twinning, Joint Degree, and Dual Degree Programmes. While collaboration between Indian and foreign institutions is one way to internationalise, the UGC has also embarked upon facilitating the entry of foreign institutions to set-up their own institutions in India, either individually or in association with any other foreign or Indian institution, by notifying another Regulation in November, 2023. It allows Foreign Higher Educational Institution (FHEI) within the top five hundred in the overall category or subject-wise category of global rankings or the institution that possesses outstanding expertise in a particular area. The FHEI has the autonomy to determine the qualifications, salary structure, and other conditions of service for appointing faculty and staff, provided the qualifications of the faculty appointed are at par with the main campus in the country of origin and the international faculty appointed serves at least a semester at the Indian campus. The qualifications awarded by the FHEI in the Indian campus will have the same recognition, equivalence and status that the qualification awarded by the FHEI enjoys in its country of origin. The qualifications awarded by it will also be equivalent to any corresponding degree by any Indian Higher Educational Institution for all purposes. To make the Indian degree programmes comparable to the globally accepted structure, curricular changes have been made like offering four-year undergraduate degree programmes across disciplines, with multiple entry and exit; one-year postgraduate programme, platform for credit accumulation, transfer and redemption by students, etc. A major focus is on constant faculty development and research and innovation, which would lead to enhancement in the quality of higher education. Further, cultural aspects of the diverse Indian sub-continent are also being included in the curriculum, in addition to developing right attitude and skills in students to become a global citizen. Post introduction of NEP, the various measures have been taken to improve quality to international standards, increase global mobility of students and teachers and embed cultural inclusiveness in the mainstream education, which is expected to internationalise Indian higher education holistically. Already few universities have established (or in the process of establishing) their campuses in India including Australia’s Deakin University, which is the first foreign university campus in India, followed by the University of Southampton. It is only expected that the trickle would be followed by a deluge soon. Dr.M Saravanan, is specialised in Higher Education and Founder Secretary of the AgaPuram Policy Research Centre, Erode. Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of the AgaPuram Policy Research Centre.

Internationalising Indian Higher Education by Dr. M.Saravanan Read More »