Growing up, literally

Thirty years ago, an 18-year-old's life was pretty simple. She would be either preparing for a course in engineering, or MBBS, or would be content doing a bachelors degree from a university.

Today, she has mindboggling choice "" from a plethora of professional courses being offered by private universities and institutes to foreign university courses, many of which have opened offices in India. The wide choice is just a reflection of how the education sector has grown over the past three decades.

The world over, education is a $2 trillion industry, and though no estimates are available for India, the education sector is on the upswing, industry observers feel.

Corporate houses like Reliance, Tata and the Birlas have made a foray into management education, IT majors like NIIT and Aptech are contemplating purchasing private universities, and two institutions "" the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, and Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal "" have set up foreign campuses in Dubai.

The government is also examining the possibility of allowing foreign institutions of higher learning into India. A committee has been set up to map out the provisions.

The numbers will convince anybody that the sector has undergone a welcome transformation over the past few decades. Roughly 3,60,000 bachelors of engineering pass out of colleges every year in India, as compared to 70,000 in the US and 1,00,000 in Europe.

Not only that, there are 322 universities and 15,000 colleges in the country, catering to 9 million youth with an annual growth rate of 5 per cent.

According to statistics of the University Grants Commission, there were 30 universities in 1950-51 which grew to 117 in 1990-91 and 214 by 1996-97. Concurrently, the enrollment grew from 2,63,000 in 1950-51 to 49,25,000 in 1990-91 and 67,55,000 in 1996-97.

"Considering that the Indian education system is the second-largest in the world after the US, one would be led to believe that India has done pretty well for itself. But large gaps remain in accessibility,'' says Sushma Berlia, vice-president Apeejay Education Society.

Only 6-7 per cent of India's youth, aged between 18-23 years, have access to higher education, as compared to 34 per cent in Singapore and 50 per cent in the USA. Not only that, the growth has been sporadic and uneven.

Take five states "" Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala "" which account for 31 per cent population but have 69 per cent of the engineers today. In contrast, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Orissa have 43 per cent of the country's population but barely 14 per cent of the engineers.

According to Berlia, the government spend on higher education is coming down, leaving the ground open for the private sector. She might have a point given the mushrooming of private institutes offering professional courses across the country. There are more than 1,000 B-schools alone in the country, a number which has shot up substantially during the past five years.

But there is a question mark on the quality of education on offer, except of course the IIMs and the other top 20 schools.

"What is disturbing is that a large number of these institutes do not have credentials or any formal accreditation,'' S K Alagh, president, All India Management Association (AIMA) says. According to him, what is lacking is quality faculty and research facilities.

There is, of course, no dearth of success stories. Set up in 1981, NIIT was a brainchild of two young entrepreneurs and claims to have trained one out of every three software professionals in the country. It has 5,00,000 students on its rolls as it initiated several firsts when it came to classroom programmes.

The company's e-learning portal "" NetVarsity "" offers a distinctive blend of content, technology and services, while NIIT@School provides IT education to 1.2 million students in 2,500 government and private schools.

Secondary and primary level education have, over the years, attracted new initiatives and fresh investments. International accreditation agencies like the International Baccalaureate (IB) Organisation of Geneva and the Cambridge Board have come shopping to India, which already boasts of 24 state boards and two national ones "" CBSE and ICSE.

About 25 schools have already tied up with the IB and many more have opted for the Cambridge system of education. The Delhi Public School Society, which has a chain of 80 schools in the country and 13 abroad, is planning a foray into the US.

Foreign investment too is flowing, with the Dubai-based Varkey group announcing plans of setting up 100 schools in India, under the Global Education management Systems (GEMS) banner.