... with New Private and Foreign Universities

The face of higher education in India is changing rapidly with the entry into the Indian educational landscape by private (newly formed) and foreign (newly established) universities to support a new competitive, innovative and globally exposed era of higher education in India. As part of implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, these two groups of institutions will create an entirely new educational infrastructure that provides global standards for higher education institutions. 

The new implementation will help make India a global knowledge hub that will provide ample opportunity for both public and private providers to establish a solid educational foundation. However, these are opportunities that will have both benefits and challenges. 

Some of the key benefits of the establishment of private and foreign universities in India are improved educational quality and facilities. In general, the private universities are better resourced in terms of physical facilities such as: 

A modern campus with adequate classrooms, laboratories and research centres; advanced teaching techniques (using technology); and access to digital library services. 

If foreign universities establish campuses in India, Indian students studying there can expect to have access to foreign-level education, research and assessment practices, thereby reducing the need for Indian students to go abroad for their education. 

A second benefit is flexibility in the design and delivery of the curriculum. Private universities tend to provide updates to their courses on a regular basis when compared to public universities (that may take an entire academic year) to incorporate emerging disciplines such as artificial intelligence; data science; climate studies; and entrepreneurship. While foreign universities will have the same level of expectations, it will likely be more common for them to develop their educational products based on incorporating the latest industry and educational trends into their curricular offerings.  

Innovation in courses and Employment generation should be a focused area of these institutions. 

It will be an era of Private and Foreign universities in Indian Higher Education. Who will compete with the other is to be observed first on the basis of the courses, infrastructure, and using innovations in technology. Only these can sustain them from time to time. 

Knowledge sharing takes place in these institutions when the faculty interact with one another. A degree is simply a paper like an object in the dustbin but a skill-based and industry–friendly courses are the need of the hour. Let there be no mad race for world rankings. Let there be no pressure for Scopus–indexed research papers on academicians. These Scopus- indexed papers are just meant for annual increments and promotions. The original research is what significantly contributes to the society in the larger interest of the people. That is research. It these institutions focus more on quality research, the world would automatically recognize them. Let us wait and see how these institutions will function and survive in future.

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