Opening up to the world means making India more visible on the global educational scene and learning about and implementing best practices from abroad. file
wWith India assuming the presidency of the G20, the time has come for it to join the world’s academic community as a major player. Indians are known globally as top scientists and academicians, university leaders and prominent leaders in high technology, but little is known about the academic environment from which they emerged. India’s educational system is now the second largest in the world. And, as expressed in the National Education Policy (NEP) of 2020, the country is actively reforming and reforming.
Opening up to the world means making India more visible on the global educational scene and learning about and implementing best practices from abroad. The G20 leadership is an excellent opportunity to do both. In addition, one of the priority areas in education during India’s G20 presidency is ‘strengthening research and fostering innovation through greater collaboration’. India is in a particularly advantageous position – the world views India as an increasingly important economy and geopolitical player. India also plays an important role in higher education – mainly as an exporter of students and talent in many scientific fields – and especially in information technology and related fields. There is growing interest in associating with Indian universities and research institutes abroad, not only because of untapped talent but also because of alienation from China by some western countries.
unknown, complex system
India not only has the second largest educational system in the world, but also one of the most complex and least understood educational environments in the world. Its higher education sector is fragmented, inflexible with rigid subject boundaries and of uneven quality. The focus of NEP is on integration with the goal of bringing flexibility and multi-disciplinary education and improving quality. While private sector colleges and universities will continue to drive growth, high-quality government institutions such as the IITs and AIIMS are also expanding and improving, and could if they were adequately funded and allowed reasonable autonomy. If yes then they can get good results.
India has established the National Institutional Ranking Framework, which has helped promote competition among institutions. India’s global ranking in scientific publications improved from seventh in 2010 to third in 2020. India ranks third in terms of the number of PhDs in science and engineering. India’s Global Innovation Index ranking has also improved significantly, from 81 in 2014 to 40 in 2022, though it lags far behind the US and China.
Indian universities have not scored well in global rankings. The highest scoring Indian institute in the 2023 Times Higher Education Ranking is the Indian Institute of Science in the 251-300 range. Another 75 institutes have been given a lower rank. The most famous institutes globally are the IITs. These do not rank well because they are small, specialized schools and not comprehensive universities, but their quality is much better than their ranking score suggests. The recent announcement that IIT-Kharagpur will set up a branch campus in Malaysia will help. India will have to make a lot of investment over a long period of time to catch up in both rankings and reality. In comparison, China has spent decades investing billions of dollars to improve its top universities – and it shows in rankings and measures of scientific output.
Specialty
There are elements of India’s educational environment that are unique and worth highlighting to an international audience. These include the rise of nearly a dozen top-quality non-profit private universities, mostly funded by philanthropic-minded Indians. This elite sector is expanding and is focused on building an international ‘brand’ for Indian higher education. India uses English as the main language of science and higher education, making it very easy to interact with the rest of the world. India has over 100 research laboratories in various fields sponsored by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and other central government agencies. Some are outstanding in terms of their research contributions and their linkages with the economy of India.
exercise leadership
India’s universities and its scientific potential form an important part of the soft power strategy. The internationalization initiative outlined in the NEP is an important beginning. India’s G20 leadership is also an excellent opportunity to exercise leadership. Two interesting initiatives have been suggested. Leaders of universities in a G20 countries have a conference in India, with an aim to acquaint them with India’s educational opportunities. The second is the creation of a prestigious scholarship program similar to the Fulbright program, which will provide time to top Indian students and faculty at leading universities abroad and funds to bring top academics from abroad to India. Its Chinese version is the China Scholarship Council.
Indian universities, researchers, and academicians also need to involve themselves in the global scientific community through participation in joint projects, international meetings, and the like. All this will require careful planning, sustained resources, support from central and state governments, and an expanding international consciousness in the Indian academic community.