Abstract
The Indian higher education system is among the largest in the world, catering to over 37.4 million students as of 2018–2019. It has been evolving rapidly since India’s independence and especially so since the liberalization of the Indian economy in the early 1990s, a step that paved the way for the entry of a large number of private players. The rapid growth has helped to address issues of access and equity to a very large extent, but the failure of many educational institutions to maintain a high quality of education delivery remains a key concern. There have been two national policies on education in the past, one each in 1968 and 1986 (operationalized in 1992). These, along with the Five-Year Plans prevalent until 2017, and several mission-mode flagship projects and schemes of the Central and state governments have been the basis for the evolution of the Indian higher education system. We describe its evolution, the current status, and the challenges facing the system at present, with a focus on issues relating to the quality of education.
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 addresses these challenges by identifying and correcting several shortcomings in the system. If implemented in the spirit that it has been created, the NEP 2020, together with the earlier, more detailed, draft National Education Policy (DNEP) 2019, represent an extraordinary opportunity to transform the Indian higher education system and realize the goal of accessible, equitable, affordable, and quality education for all.
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Wadia, L.C., Shamsu, S.T. (2020). The Indian Higher Education System. In: Sarangapani, P.M., Pappu, R. (eds) Handbook of Education Systems in South Asia. Global Education Systems. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3309-5_59-1
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