Globally, the Indian Education sector is amongst the
largest, with an extensive network of more than 1.4 million schools (with over
200 million students enrolled) and more than 850 universities and 40,000 higher
education institutes and is expanding rapidly in light of rising income levels
and growing demand for quality education in the country. Further, India also
has the world’s largest population in the age bracket 3 to 23 years which
highlights the large addressable market for this sector.
Education sector in India remains to be a strategic priority
of the government. The Government of India has allowed 100 per cent Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI) in the education sector through the automatic route
since 2002.The sector has received cumulative FDI worth US$ 2.21 billion up to
December 2018. Indian education sector witnessed 18 merger and acquisition
deals worth US$ 49 million in 2017.
India’s education sector offers a great opportunity with
approximately 29 per cent of India’s population being between the age group of
0-14 years. India’s higher education segment is expected to increase to US$
35.03 billion by 2025. The education sector in India is estimated at US$ 91.7
billion in FY18 and is expected to reach US$ 101.1 billion in FY19.
India has over 250 million school going students, more than
any other country. It also has one of the largest networks of higher education
institutions in the world. Number of colleges and universities in India reached
39,050 and 903, respectively in 2017-18. India had 36.64 million students
enrolled in higher education in 2017-18. Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher
education reached 25.8 per cent in 2017-18.
The current globalization of higher education creates both
challenges and opportunities. Educational goals are seen to be an area of great
concern in the era of globalization. It is here that universities play a
crucially important role, to create better society. They must engage with the
issues of globalization, both theoretically as analysts and researchers, and
practically as academic workers involved in an increasingly globalised
enterprise. The likelihood of entry of foreign universities into India is an
inevitable consequence of globalization. Top class foreign universities are
anticipated to add prestige to India’s higher education. The expectation is
that foreign universities will bring much needed capacity and new ideas on
higher education management, curriculum, teaching methods and research,
together with investment, and profit from the vast intellectual resources of
the country.
FUTURE OUTLOOK
- The
long-term outlook of the education sector in India is favourable on
expectation of increasing requirement of knowledge based industries for
specialised skill sets, increase in per capita consumption, high enrolment
ratio, offering of various courses, and Government support in terms of Fee
Reimbursement Scheme, flexibility in curriculum, and innovation fund for
secondary education.
- Various
government initiatives are being adopted to boost the growth of distance
education market, besides focusing on new education techniques, such as
E-learning and M-learning.
- With
online modes of education being used by several educational organizations,
the higher education sector in India is set for some major changes and
developments in the years to come.
KEY INITIATIVES
- In
August 2018, Innovation Cell and Atal Ranking of Institutions on
Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) were launched to assess innovation efforts
and encourage a healthy competition among higher educational institutions
in the country.
- In
August 2018, Government of India launched the second phase of ‘Unnat
Bharat Abhiyan’ which aims to link higher educational institutions in the
country with at least five villages. The scheme covers 750 such
institutions.
- The
allocation of funds for school education under the Union Budget 2018-19 is
expected to increase by 14 per cent, to focus on accelerating existing
schemes and quality improvement.
