Education forms the backbone of a nation and is one of the most important key indicators of a country's growth and development. Infact, the rise of knowledge economy at a global level has once again reinforced education, in all its forms (elementary, secondary, higher, vocational, and adult), as the key economic and business driver.

In the past, government was the sole education provider as it was primarily considered a social service. However, with liberalisation and globalisation of economy, it has become evident in the last decade or so that government alone cannot bear the cost of the education sector. While the private sector has stepped in to fill the gap and has increasingly enhanced its profile in education over the last decade, its role is still not properly defined.

This has led to a growing debate in recent times on India's Education Policy and the changes required to make the education sector more vibrant and flexible to meet the rapidly diversifying needs of our growing economy. Be it nanotechnology, entrepreneurship, energy, life sciences, information technology, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, agriculture or the environment, India has created quite a buzz among foreign universities in the US, according to Charles Rutledge, VP, Research, at the US-based Purdue University. Indian higher education enjoys a credible reputation globally; not only is the faculty in elite Indian institutions highly acclaimed, it also publishes high quality work. Another reason the West prefers India to any other Asian country is its English skills.

Government proposals

Not surprisingly, the Government backs 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in higher education in all institutions in India. Furthermore, the Government also proposes to set up three new IITs in Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh over the next five years. At a time when there is a global talent crunch for quality engineers, this will benefit students and employers. The Government is also planning to set up 65 polytechnic colleges during the XIth Plan period at an investment of US$ 178 million. It also plans to set up two new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) in Bhopal and Thiruvananthapuram and two new Schools of Planning and Architecture in Vijayawada and Bhopal.

On the cards are 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IITs) in various states in the public private partnership mode. The Government is also planning to upgrade the infrastructure in 185 existing polytechnics in the Special Focussed Districts over this period.

Huge potential

Academics now means big business and India's education market is on the verge of a boom. Realising the huge market potential, foreign institutes are entering into partnerships with Indian institutes or companies:

• The world's first collegiate business school, Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania, is looking at a campus in India to provide both non-executive MBA and executive MBA programmes.
• The Cambridge University of UK is declaring Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya in Sonipat district as its sub-centre for certification in English language proficiency thus making this northern India's first women’s university as the first sub centre in the country.
• The University of Oxford and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) are set up an India business centre which will be the first of its kind to be located in Oxford and in India.
• Sensing enormous job opportunities in the property valuation market and allied fields in India, the London- based Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is exploring partnerships with Indian universities and B-schools to offer RICS-accredited courses in India.
• XLRI, Jamshedpur, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bordeaux Business School, France, to promote international relations in the area of management. Under this partnership XLRI is exploring student exchange, faculty exchange, joint research projects as well as degree programs with a host of international business schools.
• Leading American university, Georgia Tech University, is opening its campus in Hyderabad.
• The College of Agri-business Management (CABM), Uttaranchal, is in advanced talks with the University of Illinois to offer a dual MBA programme in agri-business management from the next academic year.
• IIM-Lucknow, which has seen four batches of PGP-ABM pass out from the institute so far, is in advanced talks with the University of Tennessee, University of South Carolina, and Purdue University in the US to sign up for a possible collaboration in areas like faculty and student exchange and research projects.

Indian Educational Institutes Going Abroad

A number of Indian B-schools have decided to establish offshore campuses and the Middle Eastern nations and Singapore are clearly emerging as favourite destinations.

MDI, Gurgaon, for instance, is planning to set up a campus in Doha while the Clinical Research India (ICRI) and Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) have chosen Singapore as the location for their first international campus. Though most institutes, especially the IIMs have received offers to start offshore campuses from a number of countries including the US, UK and France, there is a clear preference for Dubai and Singapore.

IMT Ghaziabad has established its first foreign campus in Dubai in September 2006. One of the early movers, Xaviers Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur, had established its first campus in Dubai in 2001 where it began offering an executive education programme in collaboration with the Al Abbas Institute of Technology. The institute followed it up with a campus in Singapore in early 2006 in alliance with Image International. Similarly, SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), which currently runs its Global MBA and executive MBA programmes in Dubai from the Dubai Academic city, has set up a new campus in Singapore. Ahmedabad-based Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI), which has already opened shop in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, is in the process of establishing more centres in Myanmar and Kazakhstan.

Online tutoring

For a culture that traditionally values education, it is only natural that India should become an education hub. It is estimated that Indian online tutoring companies earned about US$ 10 million last year, 80 per cent of it coming from the US alone. With its vast population of English-speaking post-graduates, the country also has huge potential to grow in the newest outsourcing industry: Education again. Delivering top-notch teaching services at down-to-earth rates, it is already gaining ground as the global online tutoring hub.

Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012)

The Eleventh Year Plan seeks to strengthen the nation with talented people, making scientific and technological advancement and innovation an important driving force for economic and social development, putting education and training of quality talents at a prominent strategic position while striving to build an innovative country with rich human resources. It emphasizes on:

• Investing more in education by ensuring higher financial expenditure for education so as to gradually increase the proportion of financial expenditure for education in GDP to 4 percent.
• Popularisation and consolidation of nine years of compulsory education in rural areas and eliminate tuition and incidental fees for rural students during the compulsory education period.

The Education Hub

India's youth, comprising over 50 percent of its population, is often referred to as its demographic dividend. With 367 universities and 18000 colleges with 11.2 million students on their rolls, and half a million teachers, India could reap huge returns off its demographic dividend.