Paradox on the learning curve

Higher education standards urgently need an upgrade

As the government moves towards offering the premier Indian Institutes of Management greater autonomy in their functioning, it may need to focus some attention to a unique but well-established paradox of the wider higher education system that absorbs the bulk of the country’s school-leavers. The country boasts of the highest number of higher education institutions in the world – an astounding 33,723, according to an EY analysis – and the second largest number of enrolments in higher education at almost 27 million (to China’s 33 million). Yet it is estimated that almost 75 per cent of these graduates are unemployable. 

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