New Delhi : A meagre two Indian institutions (the IITs and University of Delhi) figured in the world’s top 200 universities compared to 49 from the USA, 30 from United Kingdom, 11 from Germany and 8 from China & Australia, a joint study by industry body ASSOCHAM-Yes Institute said recently.
According to the ASSOCHAM-Yes institute joint study reveals that there is no Indian institution in the top 200. It therefore becomes imperative for the country to learn from global best practices. The top talent goes to developed countries for studying, research and contributing intellectual capital as well as economic value to other countries. An estimated 6,00,000 Indian students are studying abroad, spending over USD 20 billion annually.
Only 16% per cent of the Indian firms carry out any in-firm training themselves, as against 80% of Chinese firms. As per the study indicates that only a small portion of Indian graduates are considered employable. The Nation al Employability report 2013 pegged that employability was less than 25% in almost all job functions across education streams- science, commerce, arts etc all.
India has the opportunity to be a global hub of talent by 2030 due to its demographic advantage. It will be amongst the youngest nations in the world by that time; with nearly 140 million people in the college-going age group, one in every four graduates in the world will be a product of the Indian higher education system. The estimated increase in demand for medium and high skilled jobs both nationally and globally bodes well for India which could be in a sweet spot to cater to the emerging opportunities in the job market. To realise the vision of India emerging as a global talent hub, assimilating the global best practices or ‘Glocalization’ is a crucial piece of the overall strategy.
Releasing the paper, Mr. D S Rawat, Secretary General ASSOCHAM said, industry has to offer internships, participate in developing curriculum and assist in developing competencies for the work life.
There is a need for developing a public private partnership (PPP) bases ecosystem at the secondary school level. As of 2009, there were just 5% of the senior secondary schools offered vocational education streams.
India’s higher education sector faces many challenges such as low level employability, lack of research as well as limited scope for innovation and entrepreneurship. To overcome them it is critical to align the higher education system with emerging economic realities and industry requirements as well as introduce well-structured and futuristic education frameworks.
