Pursuing excellence and equity
Abstract:
Opposition to the foreign universities Bill, some of it originating even from within the Congress, is a sad affair for the nation. Few arguments against this much-needed and long-neglected reform stand up to close scrutiny.
Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education, defined as the number of students enrolled in colleges and universities as a per cent of the total college-age population, stood at eight in China and 10 in India in 2000. By 2007, the ratio had shot up to 22 in China but crawled up barely to 13 in India. Seen differently, GER in secondary education in India was 57 in 2007. Even assuming that only half of these students actually graduate, our colleges and universities are seriously short of space.