Report

H IGHER EDUCATION SERVICES 135
not mobilise adequate resources for commercial
presence they would be more interested in Mode 4.
India should also undertake commitments in adult
and other education services. Various kinds of training
and other informal educational programmes come
under these two categories. India has already shown
its ability with regard to exporting IT education,
management, and medical training. Some of other
South Asian countries may also like to export informal
education and thus they would want India to undertake
commitments in these two subsectors.
According to the study done by Powar (2007) on
education, India has the third largest higher education
system in the world comprising about 330 universitylevel
institutions, about 16,000 colleges (including
4,500 professional institutions), over 9.5 million
students and approximately 350,000 teachers. Though
the government is the principal contributor of higher
education in the country, Powar suggests, the private
sector is increasingly making a significant contribution
to professional education at the degree level. Another
study by Agarwal (2007) highlights that in terms of
enrolment in higher education India is third largest
system in the world – after the People’s Republic of
China and the United States. With 18,500 institutions,
the country has the distinction of having the highest
number of institutions for higher education in the world
– almost four times that in the US and Europe and
more than seven times the number of institutions in
the People’s Republic of China.
The study further suggests that though the quality
of education imparted by different higher education
institutions in India is admittedly variable, there are
quite a few institutions that provide education of
quality that is comparable with that offered at the best
international institutions. The Indian Institutes of
Technology (IITs), the Indian Institutes of Managements
(IIMs), the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), quite
a few central and state universities, and a few privately
managed ‘deemed universities’ are examples. There
exists in India a parallel, non-formal stream of
education in the form of training institutions that
provide skill-oriented programmes while encouraging
its students to register at the same time in bachelor
degree programmes in the conventional universities.
NIIT is a prime example. The non-formal institutions
have differing programmes. The best-known
institution, NIIT, has two ‘domains’. Domain A is an
adaptation of the university structure. Domain B is for
those who do not aspire for a degree and includes shortterm,
skill-oriented courses whose value is determined
by the market.
Rapid growth in the globally integrated Indian
economy has led to a huge demand for skilled human
resource, but the lack of quality and relevance in higher
education is causing an obstacle to filling the gap. India
is facing up to 25% shortage of skilled candidates in
the area of engineering and this problem has surged to
45% level across sectors (Agarwal 2006). In view of
this, it has been suggested that foreign universities
should come to India to form joint ventures with the
universities here and a one year benchmark should be
set for this task. In this regard, Pangariya strongly argues
that entry of private universities, so common around
the world including Bangladesh and the People’s
Republic of China, must be introduced (Pangariya
2007). He further argues that the government has no
resources to expand higher education at a pace consistent
with demand. Nor is it in a position to create many
IITs and IIMs like institutions with public resources.
International providers are entering the Indian
education market in an increasing number. From the
advertisements on academic programmes offered by
foreign providers during 2000–04, it is clear that there
has been an increase in the number of advertisers from
144 in 2000 to 319 in 2004; in the number of providers
recruiting students for their home campuses from 117
to 204; and in the number of providers offering
programmes in India, under Mode 3, from 27 to 144
(Powar 2007). However, Powar suggests, nearly a third
of foreign providers were not universities, and an equal
percentage of their Indian collaborators were not a part
of the formal higher education.
The study by Powar emphasises the importance of
distance education. Distance education programmes
exemplify education supplied through Mode 1. These
programmes take two forms – conventional distance
education using print and audio-visual material and e-
learning through the internet. Conventional distance
education is highly developed in the Asian countries
and is available at low cost. India has eleven open
universities and 102 centres of distance education in
dual mode universities. They provide education at about
40% of the cost of education through the formal mode.
Some Indian universities have recently started offering
degree programmes, through the distance mode, in
countries having a large Indian diaspora. The Indira
Gandhi national open university (IGNOU) is the prime
example.
Cross-border supply through the internet (virtual
education) has immense potential, especially in
disciplines like management and trade that have strong
international components. Some well known training
institutes based in India offer, globally, further