Since the economy is under lockdown, it is losing on a mammoth of spots, this pandemic has assuredly taken a toll on the businesses and services. There may be a crisis of jobs for the new pass-outs, there will be many who will lose their jobs or businesses and this may lead to the brain-drain kind of situation. However, this area is very grey as of now as people will fear to settle and work abroad due to the global disturbance, this will highly be based on how soon our economy will be able to revive. The overall crunch of finances may hamper the research going on in the sectors other than healthcare. Healthcare is the prime concern for any nation at this point and India is no different. A major chunk of the government-treasury has been targeted towards the maintenance, advancement, and innovations of the medical and healthcare domain, and this is not appearing to be over soon. The government so far has not taken any decision on tax-relief either, they have come up with any other initiative to boost and incentivize education technology or skill-technology as such. Also, this pandemic has changed the face of the education system, it has shifted the system which majorly relies on physical classroom setup to an online one and the current GST rate of the online courses is 18%, this will impact the entire system to a great extent. Lack of scholarship funding schemes, no tax-credit for the corporates towards the expenses they incur to train the employees will make the area even more exposed. There is a lot to do and the government and private institutions both have to come up with some major plan of actions to minimize the impact this pandemic has tossed on the sector.

There is no denying that even after introducing several programs/schemes/policies to uplift the standard of the Indian Education system there still exists the scope to do much more. Indian Higher Education has been suffering already for years, and the outbreak of pandemic has even made the area critical and sensitive. India is already in the 3rd phase of the lockdown, although the regular classes have been substituted with the online classes still there is a lot which is at a miss. There are several inter-dependent areas to this sector which will bore the after-effect of this lockdown. Stock market losses could significantly affect philanthropy and other finances impending towards the institutions. The outlined risks are impacting nearly all colleges and universities, although the magnitude of risk will depend largely on factors such as geography, number of out-of-state and international students, and mix of programs and funding sources. Potential Job losses and income reductions may make the financial aids and grants insufficient for the upcoming year and this may create additional financial pressure on the institutions to make up for the shortfall. Funding online education and programs may get a lot of attention, as this may be the next big shift in the education sector. Institutions that can further rationalize the funds into online investments  and it will likely be better positioned to survive and generate revenue, and needless to say to reduce expenses in the years to come.

2) Technological Impact on Higher Education

The availability of resources/technology and the accessibility of the same are two different aspects. The literacy rate here, plays a great role as the usage of these tools and techniques need a certain level of articulacy. As the internet is relatively new in India, there still exists a gap that is difficult to bridge. Smartphones, laptops, and the internet are not new for today’s India but still, there is a very small portion of the population who is aware, skilled, and competent to use these available resources for academic purposes. The same goes with the institutes as well, there are very few institutions and academic centers in India who are equipped enough to function its curriculum on, online mode.

Tools & Techniques like audio-books, presentations, e-learning along with the platforms like ZOOM, Google Classroom, Hangout meets, WhatsApp/phone learning has definitely helped the sector to keep going. Apart from this Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Machine Learning has the power to change the scene. Platforms like Skill-share are coming with advancement and with a motive of skill development and personality enhancement which should not be compromised by staying behind the 4-walls. Digital devices have made the penetration easy but the expenses attached to it, is still a challenge to meet in India. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality for learning are already gibberish, these advancements have given the power to function even after being in an emergency for this long. We need to learn and practice the optimum implications of these technological advancements to cope up with the situation and to deal with future threats. India is the 2nd largest market for smartphones, immediately next to China with over 220 million active users, so the internet and data usage will not remain a massive challenge in the future. Learning is no more confined to a particular source or channel, now we do have multiple mediums to explore and exploit, the learning management system (LMS) can be considered a good example of this, it helps students to log in and access the course material. Similar to this the Synchronous Learning method allows real-time engagement while Asynchronous learning offers more flexibility. Various websites and platforms have enabled the learners to delve into the medium of their choice and have given them the edge to choose, verify, and grasp. This learning is not only confined to the curriculum rather it opens the horizon of gaining knowledge and has given a sky big aspect to the learning process as a whole. One can easily learn and look into other facets of education after all, in the modern world it’s not only the bookish knowledge that keeps you apart. Grooming oneself with the vocational courses and other interests is the demand of the time, as students are taking interest in learning different languages.    

3) Impact of Internationalization

COVID-19 has proven to be an unprecedented challenge to the education industry and is certainly going to affect internationalization at various levels. India is the 2nd largest source country for international students globally, just after China. Intensity to what extent it may affect the education sector can only be identified once the situation will be settled into a definite state. Lockdown and Pandemic may make it a reality that- rather than going to places to study and avail the exposure, the campus (virtual campuses) may approach the learners. There may be a humongous rise in online and virtual classes, study-abroad plans of the students may be kept on hold or they may be compelled to reconsider the prospect altogether. As the situation may remain like this for a few upcoming years, students may opt to study closer to their home or staying domestic may be the new trend. Institutions may have a cat-race to come out with low-cost quality education and the universities may come-up with additional specifically designed courses to attract students at a global platform. Studying abroad may not be considered as fancy as it is today. Post-lockdown there may arise a need to encourage the Indian institutions to have their establishments in foreign land and attract more world-class education institutions to have their centres in our homeland. Also, partnering with institutions abroad may become the pressing priority, at the same time a platter full of faculties from different diaspora could be a new thing. The navigation and interconnectedness of global education could be seminal to keep the education system going, the role of educators and those who impart education may get re-defined. As per a study by the Internationalization of higher education research (IHE) team at Manipal, 7 out of 10 students have already dropped the idea of studying abroad. Institutions may come up with an increased number of seats to meet the newfound increase in the number of applicants. The institutions may need to place and position themselves differently, attaining global ranking may not be the target for many institutions as the parameters to judge may shift to a great extent. The physical classroom may also encounter the conversion and may turn into a fully/ partially or hybrid online classroom to maximize its reach. Faith and confidence can only be gained at an international platform by expanding national education capacity, enhancing public services, developing a globalized workforce, and building mutual trust between nations. However, the low living expenses, unique indigenous cultural, traditional offering, cultural and religious diversity can act as a catalyst and may perform as a “pull factor” for the internationalization of Indian higher education.

4) Impact on Employability

The world was expecting a recession for the current financial cycle and the COVID pandemic has stamped it even deeper on the financial aspects of the economies across the globe. No country has been spared from this novel virus, nations as capable and flourished as The United Nations, UK, Italy, Spain have been facing the burns. India being a developing nation has emerged as an ardent, as far as the fight against the virus is concerned. In Fact we are efficiently serving as a pharmacy to several economies, India is running in the 3rd phase of the lockdown and it has steadily affected many sectors. There are several small/young entrepreneurs, manufacturing units of small and medium scale, vendors, labors, domestic help who has been majorly hit by the lockdown. Every organization/institution has different suffering and thus have different ways to deal with the prevailing issues, many have been terminated from the job, facing the salary slash and many have to sacrifice their salaries for a couple of months or so. The young learners who have completed their degrees in the recent past session must be facing challenges at various levels, the lockdown has already eaten up the existing jobs and services, and organizations are already struggling to manage their existing manpower. Employment at the time, where both products-based and service-based sectors are scuffling for their mere survival, employability could be the hindmost aspect to think for many. The volume of average annual packages, volume of overall hiring, skilled workers, the entire recruitment process, mode of work, technology usage, everything is possibly going to witness a shift in the general working sphere. The industry may face a stagnant phase as an after-effect of the lockdown, sectors will take their own time to revive their function and reassure their revenue generation. The delay and suspension of regular jobs and employment may push and compel the prospect earners to seek other ways of earning and this may lead to the evolution of various new job capacities. For example, nowadays an engineer or one who is gadgets and technology savvy can earn by putting the information and product reviews over various media and social channels. So, this crisis may give birth to a new era of employability, after all, it’s an old saying that “necessity is the mother of invention”. Also, job seekers can utilize this lockdown phase to brush-up their skills and brainstorm their core strengths. Job seekers may formulate a planner for themselves to channelize the leeway time productively, it will also help them prepare for the post-lockdown phase. The future employees can make a list of their interests and then shortlist the prospect professions on that basis, later they can choose for the courses available over various sources to sharpen the skills and it will ultimately give them an edge.  

5) Impact on Enrollment

There is already a delay in the session and as of now, the new sessions have been declared to commence from the 1st August 2020, the mid-term exams have been kept on hold and in many institutions the authority is yet to take the decision on this. The inability to make up the financial aids parallel to the set targets to the sector may result in enrollment shortfalls, governments may encounter challenging decisions as they try to mitigate or suppress COVID-19 outbreaks. These may have a direct impact on enrolment, we are already navigating in the unprecedented crisis, when and where to enroll can be the next big question. A boom in educational counsellors and enrollment specialists/agents/centres could be a new prospect business. There may be fewer visits to the campuses and people will look for more alternatives, faculty and non-teaching workforce may experience a surge in the workload. Students planning to take the admissions for higher studies may consider the option of dropping the year and diverting their time and resources to enhance their other employability skills with various online courses and consultations. The families, students, and faculty can unite and implement a plan-of-action to minimize the impact of coronavirus on enrollment. 

Institutions along with its workforce should come at the forefront and take the charge by preparing itself with various measures to establish an environment of acceptance, assuredness, and conclusiveness. The program can be introduced by initiating protocols for screening and sanitizing the premises, launching hygiene practice campaigns, up-grading and promoting e-learning/ online learning practices, and up-scaling distance learning programs. Later, recovery can be managed by putting the adjustment with the academic calendar (which certainly needs more clarity from the government and other decision-making bodies in due course of time). Collective effort and redundancy measures can help in the disposition of effective policies to the domain 

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1.)   Impact on Education Funding 

The Indian government has allocated 99,300 crores to the Education sector, which includes 3,000 crores for Skill Development under the Union Budget,2020. Infrastructure, funds-deficit, scarcity of efficient workforce, limited resources, and low penetration of technology have always been a tight-spot for India.

Funding can be attained in 4 different ways: –

a.) Government Funding

b.) Private Funding

c.) Funding through different foundations

d.) Funding through Professional Organizations

By 2030 India claims to have the largest population of working-age, which is quite staggering, India as a nation should boost its formulated strategies targeting this sector, or else, we will be left far behind. Here, funds crunch can be considered as the most prodigious ailment- the sector is lacking grants and aids from the government leaving the sector highly unstructured when it comes to the money deposition. The private sector is struggling due to the cut-throat competition, limited sponsors, and aids whereas the government institution has its circumspection. This pandemic has delayed the money generation and flow already, and India can expect a testing time ahead. Apart from being conventional, our education system can be considered as expensive as well, for example- institute like IIM Ahmedabad charges 23 lacs for a 2 year MBA program, which anyways is quite heavy on the pocket for an average Indian, and the current situation has already restricted the incomes of the parents, and has derailed the up-coming placements as well. The infrastructure of the education sector has improved a lot in the past decade but still, there is a lot to improvise- as infrastructure is crucial to attracting the students from across the countries, to have the best of faculties, and to stand parallel to the world-class education. As the scenario is changing institutions have started focusing a lot more on the commissioning and maintenance of their base and premises. Institutions which are having plans to invest, improve, or establish the infrastructure may be compelled to reconsider their plans and decisions. Foreign/ domestic investments, grants, aids, scholarships everything will be under the radar and only calculative scrutiny can help the institutions to come up with the most favourable outcomes. 

Few Recommendations to overcome the immediate funding related issues

 a.) More agencies/proposals should be introduced to back-up and support the educational institutions, in their capital expenditure and infrastructure development,

b.) More support should be extended to increase the investment in the Education sector, and thus improvising the global rankings.

c.) Research and R&D programs should be encouraged and promoted to convoke with global standards.

d.) Due to the COVID pandemic, there will be a shift in the contribution of the companies to the CSR activities. The education sector should come up with new ideas and theories as a whole and work towards channelizing the contribution tactfully   

e.) Scholarships and relaxation on taxes needs to be re-considered

2.)     Technological Impact on Higher Education 

We can have at least the basics of human survival going because of the technology and access to the knowledge/information we are having in today’s time. No information and technique are distant in this era of internationalization, the pandemic is certainly going to affect the entire education system in the long run and who knows if the new techniques of learning will become the soul of the education system in the future. Technology is the sole resource that has made the virtual mode of education possible in this pandemic. Online education is not new in India but certainly is less penetrated due to the lack of access to technology by the major portion of the population. The pandemic has compelled the world to reinvent the years’ old education system. Technology plays a vital role in the modern education system, India has always been conventional, rigidly structured, and process-driven with its education system, it also lacks practicality and exposure to what European and western education offers.

However, things are changing at a great pace. Technology in education has evolved to a great extent in the last 20 years thanks to globalization and privatization, it has turnaround more in these years than it has in the entire century. I-pad, tablets, smartphones, desktops, laptops, speakers, microphones, in-built cameras, etc. have made the entire process impactful and interactive. Audio-visual medium, power-point presentations, animation software has made the process seamless to a great extent. As per a report by KPMG- the Indian online education industry will register a 6X growth in 2021. From 1.6 million users in 2016, it will grow to 9.6 million users by 2021 with a worth of $1.96 billion. India has come a long way and the entire education system has seen a turnaround era of advancement and development. Be it Higher education, scientific researches, technological advancements, up-gradation in technology, advancement in space science, nuclear power, healthcare advancements India has consistently proven itself across the areas. Setting out from the micro level to the macro level, research, and development in the field of technology has created an ideal niche for the overall growth of the economic condition of the country.

Areas that need attention: –

a.) The wide gap in technology penetration

b.) Accessibility of technology is a challenge

c.) Lack of awareness and over-all literacy

d.) Education system’s rigid approach, makes innovations usage difficult

e.) Imparting practical knowledge and exposure should be encouraged

 3.) Impact of Internationalization 

 Globalization has bought a rapid rift in the Indian economy and it is growing like never before, this has proven India to be the most promising and emerging market in the entire world. India is the hub of a maximum number of intuitions across the globe, the number itself makes the entire sector huge and complex. COVID-19 has bought the entire world to a stand-still situation and has imposed a lockdown almost across the globe. In such a situation, technology has been proving to be a blessing for mankind. It’s only because we have various mediums to interact, we can see around, stay connected, and know, what is happening where? Since. So much is happening in the technology and education sector, there has arrived the need to re-evaluate and re-address the basics of the education sector. The process, the curriculum, and syllabus which was structured years ago can’t be considered enough for the current alpha generation. Change is the need of the hour, and there won’t be any surprise if this current situation will change things forever. The pandemic has forged a situation that has contrived us to realize that there still exists certain mien that humans can’t take a hold on. We need to revise and rethink the pattern used for imparting education. Apparently, the alpha generation has been abreast of the technology and is much more confident with the global changes. Interestingly as per a study done by Dell Technologies report, 85% of the jobs by 2030 that generation Alpha will enter into, have not been invented yet. And according to a World Economic Forum report, 65% of primary school children today will be working in job types that do not exist as yet. The impact of internationalization can be divided into four broad categories- academic, economic, political, and cultural. The majority of academic institutions in India are not equipped to host a significant number of foreign students, due to the outdated curriculum with little focus on global trends. The absence of adequate accommodation for international students and staff, infrastructure, and other imperious resources has made the area grey. 

 Findings & Struggles to the Education sector-

 Indian higher education system can be broadly categorized into the Government and Private sector and mostly both of them run on different tangents. The idea of globalization and internationalization is different for private and government institutions also, there exists a vast gap in the quality as well. Be it infrastructure, faculty, standard admission processes, campus life, or any other facet for that matter. Except for the IIMs, IITs, and the few other institutions that held the prime importance to the nation, most of the other institutions are neglected and are not facilitated with the best of the industry. While most of the government sector institutions fail to take major notice and are left ignored, the private sector has come-up with manicured infrastructure with all the possible commercial ways of growing its finances with no promised and assured quality. Since the sector is huge, complex and un-organized to a great extent, India needs to come up with a plan where both the private and government sector can work hand-in-hand and thus contrive the overall status of the Indian Education System, with an ultimate goal of bringing it at par with the global standards. Also, as there is expected to be a dip in the number of students going abroad, obviously the prospects will look around domestically for the courses of their interest. This may create a boom in the sector and there will be a rise in the demand, and thus new institutions will appear in the coming years. Those who are existing already may consider increasing their number of seats or come up with expansion in the potential-departments/courses/location or the research areas. This will raise the market share and will create a competitive environment that will lead to the need for marketing to position and stand out.

4.) Impact on Employability

The World Bank expressed in a report, on the impact of COVID-19 on migration and remittances-

“In India, remittances are projected to fall by about 23 percent in 2020, to USD 64 billion – a striking contrast with the growth of 5.5 percent and receipts of USD 83 billion seen in 2019.”

COVID-19 has led the world towards the global recession, almost all the countries in the world are suffering and contemplating the ways to cope up with the peril. Employment has always been a problem area for the Indian economy. We are the nation with the 2nd largest population and also, have the 2nd largest workable age population in the whole wide world. India has been struggling with its employment generation rates since forever, close to 90% of the working population in India is engaged in the informal sector. It’s an irony to the nation that a country that owns the burden of one of the highest numbers of child-labor scuffles to make the jobs available for the age-appropriate. COVID pandemic has made the situation even more shoddy. There is a large segment of the unorganized informal sector in India that includes laborers, construction workers, factories-mill workers, vendors, house-helpers which will suffer the most and are at greater risk.

Our economy is expected to lose over 32,000 crores every single day during the first phase of the lock-down and has affected almost 53% of overall businesses significantly. Derailed services of supply chain and logistics have greatly affected the farmers who majorly grow perishables. Hotels, tourism, aviation, young start-ups are the segments bearing the dip extensively and the situation doesn’t seem to revive for some time even after the lockdown is over. Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) have been affected partially as they have shifted their operation majorly towards the essentials during the phase.

The lockdown is undoubtedly proven to be the need of the hour, but it’s consequences are going to be catastrophic and desolating. The economy will need quiet some months if not years, with a range of strategically designed plan-of-actions to subsist this whirl. Former RBI Chief Raghuram Rajan has said that the- “Coronavirus pandemic in India may appear to be the greatest emergency since the Independence”. The novel threat has slacked the chances of new jobs into the market, those who already have jobs in hand are facing the offer-revoke, the existing employees are witnessing salary slash or are fearing the layoffs/terminations and the freshers are in a plain dilemma of where to start. This pandemic has not affected one particular sector, industry, or area of the economy rather it has bought the nation-wide or better to say global turbulence. It has been said that the world is never going to be the same again. Whatever may be the situation, sooner or later things will be settled and the world will find the way out. Maybe the world may need to change its approach and its working mechanism forever. But certainly, this crisis will take the employability to a different dimension, what is existing may seem to be obsolete and non-existing could take the front seat. Research, pharma & healthcare, skilled-experts from the industries, R&D, Big data, machine learning, robotics, and AI-related jobs may see a boom in the future. There may come numerous areas of jobs which are unknown and unrevealed to mankind at present.

 5.) Impact on Enrollment

 India is conventional in its approach when it comes to education and since higher education nowadays is an expensive experience; it involves a lot of concerns and variables which a student and the family consider, before calling it a final decision. The process may seem to have a couple of areas that are already in practice during the enrolment processes. However, we can’t deny the fact that we are still skeptical in this era of digitalization, we still hesitate to rely completely on the virtual experiences and if the experience is costing us the money, time, and the way our career will take the shape, we become furthermore susceptible. Anticipating completely on anything which is intangible and not concrete is difficult for us.

But the time is changing, COVID-19 has paced the speed of this change. And we have to compete with this make-over to survive and to retain ourselves from becoming obsolete. Enrolment has changed to a great extent in the past couple of decades, thanks to technology. The current enrolment process in India is a blend of online and in-person collaboration however, we are in the time where we have to come out with these inhibitions and accept and implement the current trends. The rise of this need is not just to cope-up with the existing parallel world, rather it should be considered more as the need of the hour. We have compiled the few findings with the context of this COVID pandemic impact on enrollment across the nation.

Potential impacts that may be triggered due to the pandemic crisis: –

 a.) Cancellation of major competitive exams to study abroad like TOFEL, IELTS, SAT, ACT, GMAT may reduce the access to standardize tests/exams

b.) There may be further suspension and delay in various exams and admission processes

c.) Trans-national and Trans-continental enrolment may face a steep dip d. Study abroad programs and cultural-exchange programs may lose its charm

e.) Institutions may find it hard to pocket and manage their wealth

f.) The pandemic will have a demographic, geographic, cultural, political, and geopolitical impact on the overall enrolment process

g.) The proximity of the institutions/universities will be of prime concern to the students and families

h.) The way an institution will reposition itself with the fast-changing scenario due to the virus will play a decisive role

i.) Intuitions that broadly rely on foreign students, maybe shambled acutely

j.) Several students enrolling abroad will plunge and vice-versa. This will push the domestic institutes to increase their number of seats for the enrolment- and this will further increase the competition

k.) Campus visits and tours may seem a long-lost affair, virtual visits will be the encouraged trend

l.) Social media will become the stage to showcase and represent

1. The teaching workforce will also expand their reach and horizon

n.) Virtual classes with a blend of students from places (different countries) would be the future

o.) Funding and sponsorships for the institutions and students will change its dimension. 

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The Pandemic has been proven to be crucial and assertive to mankind and the economies worldwide at various levels, it has ordained a cincher on the GDP. This also has grossly grieved the key macro and micro-economic indicators like- M2(money supply), consumer price index, oil prices, inflation, employment, spending power, housing, etc. The United Nations, Europe, and China wrote about its worldwide spread and impact on developing economies. This explosion of the virus has left the world unprepared about several facets in general and has distressed the world globally, which has pushed mankind to be contained at home. Healthcare, infantry & security, medicine, education, agriculture, businesses of all scales, nothing is spared and thus it is termed as worse than the world war itself. As many as 4,196,784 cases have been identified as on 11th May 2020, the numbers are alarming and appalling.

Social-distancing, Social-isolation, and Lockdown are the only known ways of precaution of this pandemic, countries have dived into the research related to the procurement of this malignant virus. The education sector is one aspect which is considered to remain unaffected by the recession in general, simply because people don’t tend to barricade themselves from learning rather, they focus more on the education and grasping knowledge during these hard times. But this time, the unprecedented virus has brought the recession to the education sector as well leaving the campus premises vacant, blocking the students for & from abroad, scrunching the mode of imparting education, leaving the industry workforce and students bewildered. It is estimated that as many as1.725 billion learners have been affected due to school and institution closures. This had made this sector vulnerable and uptight.

Current Status and newfound challenges

The education sector was one of the very first sectors coming under the radar of Pandemic precaution and lockdown. Initially, the board exams were delayed and later the entire education system aligned with the government declaration and decided to keep its functioning, on hold for an unknown tenure. Ultimately, the entire exams, admissions, job-placements, work-force recruitment everything got delayed, the sudden lockdown took away any possibility of the leeway for the institutions to prepare themselves for the changing mode of the education. Pandemic like this was never estimated, India and several other nations will certainly have some major after-effects of this lockdown in the future. Herewith, below we have listed the issues India is facing or will encounter as an after-effect of the pandemic. We will look through the major challenges at both the macro and micro levels in detail.

The objective of the article

COVID-19 has perplexed the world and forced the nations to deal with a fathom of primary and secondary requisites, shifting the world’s functioning as a whole. This has created an environment of uncertainty and delay across the sector. So, to encounter such aspects we have taken the step and have tried to structure a series of articles to acknowledge and register the current status of Indian Higher Education and its comprehensive impact. This particular article will consist of three further compositions. The three up-coming segments will be published with-in the due course of time and the content will come under the subheadings of: –

1. Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education at the Macro level,
2. Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education at the Micro level,
3. Impact of COVID-19 on the industry workforce and major findings/conclusions.

Major challenges for Indian Education- 2020 (Due to COVID-19)

Indian education has always been considered conventional and traditional in its core approach, however lately, with the technological advancement our education system has managed to endure and become acquainted with modes like- online learning, LMS, asynchronous and synchronous methods of learning. Withal, the usage of these modes was very limited and the percussion was quite apprehending, also the lockdown has shifted the course of several processes, almost overnight. So, the very first facet that came into account of the sector was to put the regular on-campus classes on hold. This leads to begetting the E-learning classes to the mainstream and later the regular exams along with the competitive once got either delayed or suspended, similarly, annual convocations of various institutions, new admissions, their recruitments were kept on hold. International student exchange programs have already taken an all-time dip and placements may also face a major disruption, students hoisting education loans or under debt running are in a tight spot.  Challenges are not only prevalent for the learners rather, but it is also affecting the workforce, admin, and the entire management of the domain. The digital gap in India has made the online penetration test plus the deprivation of technology and resources has made the situation even more strenuous. Access to the laptop, desktop, internet, and other resources is not something that everyone is facilitated with and the workforce is in the ordeal to prepare with the study material, putting it across different channels and mediums, collecting assignments. The entire process has become lengthy and thus faculty is left with more work to do before-hand. There is also an expected dip in the number of Indian students applying to foreign universities and vice-versa.

 Findings and Recommendations

1. Online teaching has never been proven more important, as millions of students are relying on the e-learning platform during this pandemic-lockdown.
2. Those who work and research in the education sector are in the safest space, and that makes them confident concerning the future aspect.
3. There may exist different opinions for different sectors on how COVID-19 is going to affect them, but when it comes to the education sector- more or less the responses are similar. Coronavirus has affected the India Education System but the intensity can be rectified only once the intensity of the virus will fade down.
4. As per the reports, AICTE has cancelled the summer internships in the companies, which was earlier mandatory for most of the higher education professional courses.
5. Exchange programmes, which are designed for exposure and experiential learning have been kept on hold for un-definite time frame.
6. Campus recruitments and placements will take a huge dip this year
7. Campus proximity may stand over the overall offering of the institution/university
8. Online Education needs a lot of attention in India. We need to be more prepared in terms of technology and efficient utilization of resources, for any future threat

As in any other industry, the education industry also will face a concentration of power among the small number of brand names and the flight for the quality will prevail. Universities and corporates can collaborate more in the future to exceed the stakeholder value. How will the world look and function post-corona? Well, no matter how many times we would be questioned to understand this upcoming phase of the future, we are left with some vague and blur imaginations. It’s a crisis and must be having an end at some point or other but till then the world has to learn to make peace with it. We need to accept the fact that at the moment staying safe is the top-most priority and challenge for any society and nation. Whatever the future maybe, but the current slowdown will provoke to have a more accelerated future, for sure.

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Especially, the education sector was expecting a huge boost in terms of increase in education budget from 4% to 6% of the GDP.

An outlay of Rs 85,010 crore was made by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the education sector for the next fiscal year. While Rs 35,010 crore have been allocated for higher education, an amount of Rs 50,000 crore has been earmarked for school education. This has increased from Rs 79,685.95 crore in 2017.

The government has proposed a research fellowship scheme under which 1,000 best B.Tech students would be identified and given “a handsome fellowship” and facilities to do PhD in IITs and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in the hope that they would voluntarily commit a few hours every week to teach in higher educational institutions. This initiative would probably attract top ranked students from the premier central government institutions for pursuing PhD and eventually become faculty in Indian higher education. It’s a welcome step towards strengthening Indian Higher Education teaching & research. If implemented well, this may help India in improving its performance in global university rankings.

The decision has been welcomed by the academic community overall, as such an initiative could help in fostering a culture of research and innovation in the field of technology. For decades India’s academic orientation has been skewed towards theory, with very little impetus on research and testing.The move comes in a time when India produces only 12,000 PhDs in engineering annually, unlike China, Britain and the US..

The government has also proposed setting up of two new full-fledged schools of planning and architecture and about 18 schools of planning and architecture to be set up under the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs) as autonomous schools. Looking at the rapid automation taking place in infrastructure and construction sector, this announcement looks untimely. However, this step could be aimed to cope with the demand for architectects and urban planning professionals for upcoming smart cities.

To bridge the gap between doctor-patient ratio in the country, the finance minister proposed setting up of 24 new government medical colleges by upgrading existing district hospitals in the country. “The government aims to set up at least one medical college for three Parliamentary constituencies. Looking at the governance issues in the medical council of India and deteriorating conditions of government medical colleges and hospitals, government would be required to pay serious attention while setting up new medical colleges.

In a major reform move for the higher education sector, the government has also announced a new model for funding infrastructure in the centrally-funded higher educational institutions, calling on IITs, NITs and IIMs to pitch in with 25% of total funds needed.

The budget 2018 has declared that there will be no further grant-in-aid for new infrastructure across Centrally Funded Technical Institutes including the IITs, NITs and IIMs. It is estimated that Rs 1 lakh crore will be needed across institutes until 2021-22 for creation of new infrastructure.

The move could be made to bring in greater accountability and responsibility in government funded educational institutes, to shift funding mechanism to a project based one rather than a dole out mechanism. The government also believes that besides pushing institutes to mobilise their own resources, the move will also allow institutes to seek more funds and money than they currently get allocated, provided their project proposal is credible enough.

Under the new funding regime introduced today, each institute will now have to seek funds on the basis of projects proposals and seek loans from the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) to fund the same.

This change in funding mechanism may increase competitive environment among premier institutions however, for a country like India, the government funding in Higher Education Institutions should be based on more egalitarian view and mediocre institutions should not suffer due to most of the government fund allocation to top institutions.

In case of Central Universities which have constraints in raising student fee, they will have to only pay 10% of the principal amount.

Stopping short of fully deregulating fee in these institutes, keeping student interest in mind, the Modi government will allow educational institutes considerable freedom to mobilise resources on their own.

While these initiatives are spearheaded towards creating an infrastructure to encourage skill development and ensure that our youth has relevant expertise in their area of specialization. Broadly, education sector had the following expectations from this budget.

1. Increasing education sector budgetary allocation from 4% to 6% of GDP
2. Removal / reduction in GST for Higher Education
3. Special package to revive engineering education / closing institutes
4. Announcement of National Employment Policy (NEP) – a comprehensive road map for creation of quality jobs and employment
5. Revision on monetary limit for income tax exemption under children education

While this year’s union budget almost managed to pacify all strata’s, but the people were still left wanting for more. For example even after much debate and discussion, topics like GST in Higher education or tax exemption under children education were not touched..

Therefore even with a slew of such initiatives, one could only come to a conclusion basis what gets translated into ground reality and in what amount of stipulated time.

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The demand for international faculty in Indian institutions and the resultant influx of foreign faculty in recent times has been due to the pursuit of academic excellence by most of these institutes. These institutions are driven by the belief that by hiring foreign nationals would make help them get better rankings in global listings of top colleges as internationalization of campus is good for rankings. Until recently the foreign faculty in Indian institutions was primarily on faculty exchange programs or as a part of international visiting faculty. The institutions have always desired to hire foreign faculty or faculty with global experience; it is only recently that they have been making concerted efforts to market themselves internationally. Comparative salaries and global competition has also successfully driven international teaching talent to Indian institutes.

Building institutes of academic excellence is a time-taking and incremental process. Once an institution has achieved a certain level of reputation, maintaining it at that level is also quite a challenge. Thus, even the best universities are in constant quest to access indicators of prestige like knowledge, research and talent.  And while evaluating the indicators does one realize the importance of faculty in making an institution. International teacher researchers bring academic excellence well within reach of the Indian institutions.

The Indian institutions both private and state funded are gradually seeing an increase in applications from faculty based out of India for they also are of the belief that the foreign faculty would enable them to strengthen and enhance research visibility in international forums.

Raging debates in favour of and against appointment of foreign faculty in Indian institutes has thrown up a number of points in favour of appointment of international faculty. Though the debate veers between obsequiousness and arrogance the middle path allows us to move to a quality based system where the institute would gain tangible outcomes.

Firstly, it is a belief that by bringing faculty from abroad would catapult Indian institutions to ‘Top 100’ global rankings. Globalization has had a major influence on Indian higher education with the ease of mobility the institutes are demonstrating greater international strategies simply by the numbers of international faculty. No Indian institution has featured among the top 100 in global rankings, which is a worrisome obstacle and concerted effort is required to change the situation.

Secondly, our outdated, rigid curricula and the absence of in course content and skill development will be infused with fresh viewpoints from different cultures and value system.

Thirdly, compared to the West lack of inquiry based learning and early researcher skills is limiting the capacity of Indian institutions to engage in vital research and innovation activity. India is not producing enough PhDs and very few students in India as compared to other countries in the West are enrolled as postgraduate researchers. But recently due to the government’s outlook towards internationalization and India’s transition from an inward gazing scientific culture to one increasingly characterized by external engagement Indian institutions are hosting foreign faculty in stable, long term posts more frequently than ever before.

Lastly and not in any way lesser than the others is the inclusion of foreign faculty in the Indian education system would finally render the teaching space market driven in the future. It will increase the quality and the competitive spirit within the Indian academic community as we are likely to see more and more academics who are genuinely interested in the profession and not those who were led to teaching by default.

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Higher education sector will be a key area of growth with increasing population in the tertiary age group and a growing and globally aware middle class. Expanding the capacity in tertiary offerings and improving the quality of education are the nation’s priorities at the moment.

Private sector has seen tremendous growth in the unregulated education sector in India in the past decade and is expected to grow further. Services like vocational courses, language training, coaching classes and professional training courses fall under this segment and provide opportunities for foreign direct investment for international education institutions. The unregulated higher education sector has already witnessed an inflow of around 500 mn USD in the past decade.

Private sector growth in the regulated higher education segment is restricted due to the ‘not-for-profit’ clause. The Government of India has recognized this and there are plans to bring reformation through increasing public private partnership, allowing easy funding options for private institutes and re-examining the ‘not-for-profit’ clause. This, however, is expected to take some time.

Meanwhile, International institutes need to take a long term view and engage in developing multidimensional relationship with Indian higher education institutions. This report throws light on opportunities for Global Institutions in India.

Download Report from here.

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A major shortage in teaching talent is paralyzing Indian higher education. The current strength of 8.2 lacs professors and faculty is 32 percent lower than the required number of 12 lacs. What’s even more worrying is that by 2020 the sector will need an additional faculty of 15 lacs to join its ranks.

Sadly, not only are we lacking in quantity of academic talent, but also in quality. India has more than 400 universities and 20000 colleges. Despite being among the largest higher education systems (number of institutions and students enrolled) in the world, only a handful of Indian Institutions are globally recognized. This is a reflection of the quality of academic staff along with other systemic failures in the education system.

These alarming statistics force us to ask the question – just how are we going to fill the gapping shortfall in quality faculties and professors in the country?

Our failure to attract the best talent to academics

One measure of quality of education offered in a country is the ability to attract the brightest talent into the sector. However, employment trends indicate that academics is no longer a preferred career choice with the large number of students graduating from the country’s higher educational institutions.

Global giants like Google and Facebook are increasingly recruiting from India, offering mega salary deals. The best of Indian talent has also been able to successfully integrate itself with top Fortune 500 companies. With industry soaking in the best, the pool of talented individuals available to join academics has steadily declined.

Indian academics has also failed to offer remuneration prospects similar to those being offered by global universities which have also become a destination for some of India’s brightest minds.

In India the pride associated with academia has been lost, unlike other countries such as Singapore and Finland which go to great lengths to bestow enormous prestige on those associated with the profession.

Of course tackling the overall crisis would require sweeping changes in the institutional framework by the government, greater partnership with the private education sector as well as greater involvement of the industry.

But a crucial remedial step will be making academics an attractive destination of choice and this is where ‘Star Professors’ can play a major role.

Who are ‘Star Professors’?

Globally we are seeing the emergence of ‘Star Professors’. These academicians of high repute have gained superstar statuses for their ability to present educational content in a manner that almost seems like an entertainment to audiences. They have courses and programs designed around their knowledge base and draw in huge crowds at colleges, seminars and events.

Both educational institutions and big corporations seek out star-professors and are willing to pay them ‘top dollars’ for academic and consulting / advisory roles. Their influence is not limited to the academic silo. These media savvy star professors are opinion leaders on socio, economic and political issues impacting their countries and indeed the world.

Star professors are trailblazers that inspire others to follow in their footsteps.  Not only do they encourage existing professors to better themselves, but more importantly they act as magnets for young minds to join the academic field. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the future of academics depends on star professors.

Indian Education desperately needs Star Professors

We Indians love our stars.  From movies to cricket to business, names immediately come to mind; from a Shah-Rukh Khan to M S Dhoni to Narayan Murthy. These people represent the best in their fields and have become powerful brands in themselves.

Unfortunately, we have failed to attract and develop academic talent that has anywhere near this kind of star power. Indian higher education is in desperate star professors’ as symbols of the successes that academics can offer, and for attracting young talent in much larger numbers, across myriad fields of study, than is presently happening.

Attracting and Promoting Star Professors

Indian educational institutions compete on an international stage when it comes to attracting and retaining the best academic talent.

The global economic slowdown, which has put a strain on research budgets, salary increments and general standards of living, may well work in favor of India regaining preference with a section of the Indian Diaspora currently based in International Universities. Salary is an important consideration, but is not the only factor that can draw top Indian academic talent back to its shores.

Teaching faculty need to be given compensation comparable with the best in the country, allowed wide-decision making powers (which includes course content, student assessment policies, courses offered and budget allocations) and conferred highly publicized recognition for outstanding work. Indian institutes can attract faculties by offering them faculty fellowships, offering research grants and made-to-order research facilities.

Indian institutions looking to create and attract Star Professors will need to have a dedicated talent management strategy towards –

• Investing in young academic talent, which includes providing international standard training opportunities and compensation during the training period
• Providing reputed professors with research amenities and autonomy in decision making they enjoy at global universities
• Promoting individual professors on their faculty as ‘personal brand names’ and specialists in the field across platforms ( advertising, social media, education forums and industry)
• Institutionalizing a  framework for recognition and reward for academic achievements

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The post Union Budget ’16: Education Sector Analysis appeared first on EduShine.

With the growing aspiration of Indian premier institutions to compete on the global stage and basic demand for creating access to higher education for all, the sector was expecting transformational reforms. However as far as meeting education sector’s expectations is concerned, the budget is miles away from being considered as #SuperBudget. Rather, it seems, focus on education is missing in this budget.

To tackle mammoth challenges Indian education is facing, strategic long-term approach to rejuvenate the sector was expected by most of the academic leaders. As far as education sector announcements are concerned, the budget doesn’t look anyway different from earlier government budgets. It remains populist with symbolic announcements of new premier institutions to please a specific section of society and many promises for the larger population.

Being the first full budget of the government with the absolute majority, this budget would have provided at least the direction for some of the eagerly awaited education sector related bills.

Looking at the pressing need of improving research and innovation output of the country, announcement on countrywide special program for motivating academic research would have been considered timely. Such announcement would have been face saver against the humiliation government is facing on the issue of delay in research fellowship arrear payment and nationwide agitation by Ph.D. research scholars.

Here, I am presenting the detailed analysis on each point of the Hon’ble Minister’s budgetary speech.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

I have allocated ` 68,968 crore to the Education sector including mid-day meals

Analysis:

This announcement is the most significant as budgetary allocation indicates government’s focus on education viz a viz other sectors.

In this budget, Rs 68,968 crore is allocated for the education sector from total outlay of Rs 17,77,477 crore, which is nearly 3.8 percent.

While the school education sector has got an outlay of Rs 42,219.50 crores for 2015-16, the higher education sector has got Rs 26,855 crore. In all, school education and higher education sectors have got Rs 68,968 crore. The revised estimate for 2014-15 was Rs 70,505 crore. This means the government announced 2% cut in the outlay for the education sector in this Union Budget. The cut is, however, about 16.54 percent if compared with the actual outlay the 2014-15 fiscal.

“India is one of the youngest nations in the world with more than 54% of the total population below 25 years of age.” The line quoted by Honorable Finance Minister during this budgetary speech gives perspective to 3.8% budgetary allocation to the education sector. Looking at this statistics if we really want to ripe benefits of the demographic divide, the government would have announced significant hike in education spending. Government’s decision of budget cut in education is against common sense.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

Educating and skilling our youth to enable them to get Employment is the altar before which we must all bow. To ensure that there is a senior secondary School within 5 km reach of each child, we need to upgrade over 80,000 secondary Schools and add or upgrade 75,000 junior/middle, to the senior secondary level. We also have to ensure that Education improves in terms of quality and learning outcomes.

Analysis:

The intention of the Finance Minister to improve the quality of primary and secondary education is definitely a beacon of hope. However, due to the absence of a working blueprint to achieve these results, the words seem to be hollow and a little unrealistic, considering the large number of schools being impacted (80000 secondary and 75000 junior/middle-level schools).

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

An integrated Education and livelihood scheme called ‘Nai Manzil’ will be launched this year to enable Minority Youth who do not have a formal School-leaving certificate to obtain one and find better Employment. Further, to showcase civilization and culture of the Parsis, the Government will support, in 2015-16, an exhibition, ‘The Everlasting Flame’. The allocation for the Ministry of Minority Affairs is being protected. The BE for the year 2015-16 is Rs 3,738 crore.

Analysis:

With the integration of the Education, Skills development and Livelihood schemes, the Government definitely seems to be sensitive about improving the condition of the uneducated, unemployed population. The Government’s step towards integrating educational services of religious institutes and other academic bodies is a good move.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

I also intend to establish, in NITI, the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM). AIM will be an Innovation Promotion Platform involving academics, entrepreneurs, and Researchers and draw upon national and international experiences to foster a culture of innovation, R&D and scientific Research in India. The platform will also promote a network of world-class innovation hubs and Grand Challenges for India. Initially, a sum of ` 150 crore will be earmarked for this purpose.

Analysis:

As mentioned in the beginning, the announcement of a large-scale program for the promotion of Research and Innovation culture among academic institutions remains long awaited. This new fund allocation can be looked at as a first step towards larger program. However, looking at the kind of boost India needs in this area, 150 crore allocation is meager.

The UAE government recently declared 2015 as the “Year of Innovation” and announced a new National Innovation Strategy with the aim of becoming one among the most innovative nations in the world within a 7-year period. Our country is still in the optimistic state and I feel, this was the right time for our government to announce bold vision about our vision and support it with long-term budgetary allocation.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

India is one of the youngest nations in the world with more than 54% of the total population below 25 years of age. Our young people have to be both educated and employable for the Jobs of the 21st Century. The Prime Minister has explained how Skill India needs to be closely coordinated with Make in India. Yet today less than 5% of our potential workforce gets formal skill training to be employable and stay employable.

We will soon be launching a National Skills Mission through the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Ministry. The Mission will consolidate skill initiatives spread across several Ministries and allow us to standardize procedures and outcomes across our 31 Sector Skill Councils.

With rural population still forming close to 70% of India’s population, enhancing the employability of rural youth is the key to unlocking India’s demographic dividend. With this in mind, we had launched the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gramin Kaushal Yojana. ` 1,500 crore has been set apart for this scheme. Disbursement will be through a digital voucher directly into qualified student’s bank account.

Analysis:

Here I have clubbed 3 skill development related sections of the speech.

Broadly it gives an impression of government’s increasing inclination towards skills development than formal education. If India aspires to be exporter of skilled workforce to the whole world, focus on skill development is inevitable, however it is also important to remember that both should remain supplementary to each other and vocational training can not be looked at as an alternative to formal education.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

With a view to enable all poor and middle class students to pursue Higher Education of their choice without any constraint of funds, I propose to set up a fully IT based Student Financial Aid Authority to administer and monitor Scholarship as well Educational Loan Schemes, through the Pradhan Mantri Vidya Lakshmi Karyakram. We will ensure that no student misses out on Higher Education for lack of funds.

Analysis:

If you would like to evaluate this budget with respect to the government’s execution capability this section is the best example. This announcement should be looked at in the context of last budgetary announcement of “Government also proposes to ease and simplify norms to facilitate education loans for higher studies”. When we put both the in sequence, it gives confidence that government has a well-defined plan in this area.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

Hon’ble Members will remember that in the Budget Speech of July, I had indicated my intention to provide one major Central Institute in each State. In the fiscal year 2015-16, I propose to set up All India Institutes of Medical Sciences in J&K, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Assam. Keeping in view the need to augment Medical Sciences in Bihar, I propose to set up another AIIMS like institution in these States. I propose to set up an IIT in Karnataka, and upgrade Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad into a full-fledged IIT. I also propose to set up a Post Graduate Institute of Horticulture Research and Education in Amritsar. IIMs will be setup in J&K and Andhra Pradesh. In Kerala, I propose to upgrade the existing National Institute of Speech and Hearing to a University of Disability Studies and Rehabilitation. I also propose three new National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research: in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Chattisgarh; and an Institutes of Science and Education Research in Nagaland and Odisha. I also propose to set up a Centre for Film Production, Animation and Gaming in Arunachal Pradesh, for the North-Eastern States; and Apprenticeship Training Institute for Women in Haryana and Uttrakhand.

Analysis:

To me, this is the most disappointing announcement of this budget. There is no doubt that we will have to build additional capacity to achieve 30% Higher Education GER target, however, it is important to evaluate financial viability of announcing new institutions.

The eight IITs, announced during 2008-12, are operating out of temporary campuses. Out of these 8, 6 deferred their plan to move to new campus due to cut in budget allocation. Government announced 5 new IITs during last budget however; it seems difficult for them to start from coming academic session. It is difficult to understand how government will practically starts one more IIT and what purpose will the name change of ISM, Dhanbad to IIT, Dhanbad serve. Situation of new IIMs is no better than IITs. They are struggling without physical and intellectual resources required for premier institution.

Announcement of independent university for disability studies, film production Centre, and apprentice training Centre for female are welcome moves.

Conclusion:

To me, the Union Budget does not seem too promising for education sector. But with the country still being in an optimistic state, hope and success riding high on this year’s budget, here’s to see how much of the reforms are carried out over the trending of the year.

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As the Indian higher education is at a critical stage with tremendous pressure on increasing GER and quality enhancement of Institutions, the sector was expecting structural reforms. However unfortunately; the budget fell short on those expectations as the new government also continued focusing on infrastructure creation than structural reforms.

Looking at the challenges Indian higher education is facing, a new strategic approach needs to be taken to overhaul the sector. The budget only talked about doing more of the same that the last government was doing. It also has been populist in nature as it attempts to please a few sections of society, specifically based on geography.

Provided with the huge mandate to this government, this budget would have clarified government’s stand on FDI in Higher Education (Foreign Education Providers’ Bill), which is eagerly awaited by, not just, the promoters of private education institutions but also by some leading foreign institutions as well.

Looking at the increasing importance and urgency for preparing Indian institutions to compete on global rankings, this would have been the most appropriate time for the government to announce an initiative on the lines of Chinese 985 (or Korean Brain 21) programs. Such initiative would have been able to rejuvenate Indian higher education system.

Here, I have presented detailed analysis on each points of the Hon’ble Minister’s budgetary speech.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

“The country needs a large number of Centers of higher learning which are world class. I propose to set up Jai Prakash Narayan National Centre for Excellence in Humanities in Madhya Pradesh. I also intend to setup five more IITs in the Jammu, Chattisgarh, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Five IIMs would be setup in the States of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Odisha and Maharashtra. I propose to set aside a sum of Rs 500 crore for this.”

Analysis:

This announcement is the most significant as it clarifies the government’s approach towards higher education. I feel, the government has gone completely wrong. To improve the GER the country certainly needs additional capacity but it is more important to better quality of existing education institution, urgently. When most of the newly formed IITs and IIMs are still operating from borrowed campuses and are struggling from lack of quality faculties, this budget should have focused on strengthening them rather than starting new institutions.

If the government felt the need to increase some capacity, a better initiative should have been to create a new brand in Higher Education rather than trying to leverage existing brands like IITs and IIMs.

In today’s context establishing even a single world class institution requires an investment of Rs 500 crore and it doesn’t make any sense to allocate similar budget to start 10 new institutions. The better option would have been to allocate funds, to the best management / engineering institution in these states, with the specific objective of putting them on the road map to become IITs and IIMs. Opening 5 new IIMs and IITs each in the states where it is not present currently, is certainly politically motivated and has no merit from educational stand-point.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

“Government also proposes to ease and simplify norms to facilitate education loans for higher studies. “

Analysis:

This is right step in the right direction to improve GER. Looking at the budgetary deficits and increased capacity in the private institutions, it was almost impossible for the hon’ble minister to subsidize or control fees and push for GER increase.

However, the government must not consider such simplification at the cost of increase in NPAs. It needs to be monitored carefully as NPAs in education loans are already hovering at more than 5%.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

“Rs 2,200 crores for Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan.”

Analysis:

It is in the continuation of existing centrally sponsored scheme. With larger allocation, it is more important to increase effectiveness and relentless focus on quality, equity and access.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

“Film & Television Institute, Pune and Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, Kolkata are proposed to be accorded status of Institutes of national importance and a “National Centre for Excellence in Animation, Gaming and Special Effects will be set up.”

Analysis:

This is a real area of new initiatives in this budget. It is encouraging for the private institutions to know that government has acknowledged the importance of higher education institutions in specialized and emerging disciplines.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

“Rs 200 crore provided to open Agriculture Universities in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan & Horticulture Universities in Telangana & Haryana. “

Analysis:

Ii is difficult to understand that with more than 50 existing agricultural and horticulture universities, most of them operating at lower than expected capacity utilization, the government has decided to establish 4 more such universities. As most of these universities are operating under tight budgetary constraints and produce lower quality research, this money should have been better utilized in upgrading the quality of education and research in the existing agricultural and horticultural universities. Agriculture & horticulture universities require large land bank and unfortunately, most of the budgetary allocation will go in land and basic infrastructure.

To conclude, it is important for the government and specifically, ministry of HRD to make a fine balance between new capacity generation and building globally ranked institutions. This budget creates an impression of leaning towards capacity building.

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