The Indian Higher Education system is the largest in the world encompassing 20 million students and approximately 36,000 institutions.
However, with the population of India expected to grow to over 1.5 billion by 2020, the capacity of higher education institutions needs to nearly double, to meet the targeted Gross Enrolment Ratio, or GER, of 30%, for the higher education segment. This will require an investment of USD 200 billion. If the rate at which the capacity in higher education has been developed by the government is any indicator, we will fall short of the target by a very large measure. Besides, the overregulation, and complexity, in the system creates a very high entry barrier for private participation, which we feel is one of the imperatives with respect to creating capacity with quality and efficiency.
In this report, Technopak has tried to highlight some of the key trends and dynamics that are shaping Indian higher education, including the establishment of private universities.