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Last Updated on November 7, 2012 by MBAUniverse.com News Desk

FICCI meet sees greater pvt sector role in higher education

The FICCI summit discussed the increasing role of the private sector in higher education
The greater role of private sector in promoting and fostering higher education in India, the governments initiatives and a thorough review of the current scenario were discussed in detail during the two-day 8th FICCI Higher Education Summit 2012, organized in partnership with the HRD ministry and the Planning Commission in New Delhi on November 5 and 6. MBAUniverse.com was the online media partner of the event.
What transpired from various discussions attended and addressed by Union ministers, departmental secretaries, Planning Commission members, senior government officials and corporate honchos was that the private sector would be encouraged to play a more aggressive role in the higher education sector. A study report, prepared by the Planning Commission, FICCI and E&Y, and released during the summit, identified six areas to enhance quality of Indian higher education institutes.
Minister of state for human resource development (HRD) Shashi Tharoor said the university system was not producing well-educated graduates to meet the needs and demands of Indian companies. Saying that the government was keen on passing some pending Bills during the Winter session of Parliament to remove procedural bottlenecks, Mr Tharoor informed that setting up of 50 centres of excellence for research was also high on the Centres agenda.
Lauding the role and contribution of private entrepreneurs in transforming the higher education system, Ashok Thakur, secretary, higher education, HRD ministry, said it had been producing 1.4 million employable professional engineers per annum for suitable induction in the industry.
Chairing a panel discussion on the emerging trends in the private sector in higher education, Mr Thakur said the government was doing all that was necessary to bring the required changes in statutes to enable it set up more IITs and medical institutes.
The panel discussion explored some of the good practices being followed by the developed world to deliver quality education by private higher education institutes and universities. The other panelists included Mr Amitabh Jhingan, partner, E&Y; Dr Rajan Saxena, co-chair, FICCI Higher Education Committee, and vice-chancellor of NMIMS University; Dr Nikhil Sinha, founding vice-chancellor of Shiv Nadar University; Dr Ramesh Kanwar, vice-chancellor of Lovely Professional University; Dr Ashok Saxena, vice-chancellor of Galgotias University; and Ms Manjula Pooja Shroff, chairperson of Carlox Education & Research Foundation.
The six areas identified in the report prepared by the Planning Commission, FICCI and E&Y are: merit-based student financing, internationalization of education, enabling a research environment, high quality faculty, improved technology for education delivery and employability. According to the report, despite a near 11 per cent increase in student enrollment in higher education and a 9 per cent growth in institutions during the last decade, the higher education sector is still plagued by various challenges such as low gross enrollment ratio (GER), inequitable access to higher education by certain communities, geography, gender, lack of quality research and education. The GER in 2011 stood at 18.8 per cent compared with the global average of 26 per cent.
Prof M Anandakrishan, chairman of the FICCI higher education committee, said: Private unaided institutions and universities are the fastest growing segment in higher education and account for 59 per cent share of total enrollment in 2012. This report is an attempt to look at the 12th Five Year Plan recommendations pragmatically from the private sectors perspective and suggest strategies for quality improvement in higher education.
Mr Pawan Agarwal, advisor (higher education) to the Planning Commission, said: The issues in higher education are complex and actions are needed at different levels by a variety of stakeholders. I hope that this report will be used as a thinking tool for stakeholders to build their own agenda.
Mr Jhingan of E&Y said, The government intends to achieve enrollment of 35.9 million students in higher education institutions, with a GER of 25.2 per cent, by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan through co-existence of multiple types of institutions. The private sector can be expected to play an instrumental role in it through creation of knowledge network, research & innovation centres, corporate-backed institutions, and support for faculty development.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more news on the higher education sector.

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