The education landscape of India is poised to explode considering the entry of high profile personalities in an industry that could potentially make India a developed nation.
The recent entry of the promoters of the Hero group, the Munjal family, is the third high profile entry into the education sector after AjimPremji of Wipro Group and HCl Group Chairman Shiv Nadar. An industry that is hungry for reforms is expected to enter into an advanced phase after the entry of stalwarts, who are known for their outstanding contributions to India’s technology prowess.
The education system of India has been running through Government machineries that have the resource but not the knowhow to make it a prolific industry churning out quality products. In terms of quality, the premier institutions of India that qualify are amongst IITs and IIMs, However, strangely, our premier institutions do not even qualify among the top 200 institutions of the world (according to QS World University Ranking). India also has one of the poorest Gross Enrollment Ratios of higher education (13 per cent) in the world (global average is 26 per cent).
Considering the total population between the ages 15 and 24 in India is 23 crore, only 1.8 crore students are enrolled in the higher education. With increasing number of students coming out of the high school, there isn’t enough capacity to absorb them into higher education. Apparently, there is a huge supply-demand mismatch prevailing in our education system.
Since about a decade, the private sector has played active role in creating the capacity. However, most of the private players were the people, who knew little about education but had the wherewithal to create infrastructure for private colleges and universities. Their objective was limited to providing a degree that could get students a job. In other words, a large part of higher education operated by private players was designed around the job market. Thanks to their limited understanding of education, they could not create a creative environment for education. The result is mushrooming of mediocre private institutions that offer students an option but not a real education. Clearly, there lies an opportunity.
The entry of AjimPremji, Shiv Nadar and Munjals in the education sector is a welcome news. Notably, AjimPremji has entered the sagging industry with some Rs 8000 crore of his own wealth. Shiv Nadar has pledged some Rs 3000 crore. These business people have a track record of locating a trend early and making a huge business out of an idea. Both Premji and Shiv Nadar have made their respective organizations, Wipro and HCl respectively, a household name in the field of Information Technology. Knowing their business acumen, it can be safely assumed that they are here to make it big. Most importantly, it is expected that they are here to do things differently. While making a profitable business out of a resource hungry education system of India is a no-brainer for these celebrity business tycoons, I sincerely hope they do not enter into a rat race. Here are a few suggestions.
It would serve to remind that during IT heydays when companies made windfall profits, India could not produce a world-class technology product that could be called its own. It was a lost opportunity that should not be repeated. India has significant human resource supply with a few best brains in the world. The stalwarts should deploy such brains to create a few institutions that can be counted among the world’s best.
Many argue that India’s primary education is mundane repeat of hard knowledge. It is probably not true. It is the same education system through that has shaped the best minds of the world. However, there is no doubt that our higher education needs sharpening. Since you have operated across the world, we hope you also know what works best. Your experience may be utilized optimally at the higher curve of education from where you can create best professionals of the world.
While education is largely associated to academics, there are other areas that can be sharpened through education. Sports, arts, music and numerous other areas also need attention. If India can progress in one field, there are no reasons why it cannot prosper in other. There are no reasons why India cannot win more Olympic gold. As in other fields, creating world-class education system in sports could be answer to our Olympic blues. The new generation is rising to the challenge and this could be the most opportune time to foray into other areas that are also commercially profitable.
Education sector is going to be the next sunshine industry of India. As industry stalwarts start to enter the foray, the clamor to own a pie of the cake is likely to attract others. Indian education sector is getting hotter everyday.
(Samar Vijay is Director, InvestCare, a leading fund management company. He can be reached at samar.vijay@investcare.in)