Growth of Higher Education in India: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

Education in general and higher education in particular, is perceived as a means not only for raising political and social consciousness, but also for increasing the number of skilled workers and raising the level of trained manpower. High quality human capital is developed in high quality education systems, with tertiary education providing the advanced skills that command a premium in today’s workplace. Higher education plays a necessary and an increasingly important role in human, social, and economic development.  Though the higher education institutes are vital for development, the institutions imparting it are also complex, fluid and dynamic in nature as they exhibit numerous different capabilities and scope, and are impirative in the process of development both directly and indirectly through teaching, research and service. Higher education in India has expanded at a very fast rate during the post-independence era, with their being spectacular increase in the number of institutions and student enrollment. Despite the clear importance of this sector as engines of development, it is facing severe financial crisis throughout the world, due to the acute pressure of enrollment expansion on one hand and lower priority accorded to this sector as compared to primary and secondary sector by the respective governments. In this backdrop, the present paper addreresses the growth of higher education in India and highlights the major problems and challenges faced by it. The present study also suggests measure to enhance the development of higher education in India.