Indian higher education system has made commendable progress in the past few years with many new universities and institutes coming into existence.India today has around 342 state universities, 125 deemed universities, 49 central universities, 32 NITs, 19 IIMs and 18 IITS.
However, India’s Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher education is only around 20% i.e. out of every 100 eligible candidates who should be opting for higher education, only 20 actually enroll for a degree.
Adding to this, low employability of our graduates, outdated curricula, shortage of faculty, lack of institution and industry connects, lack of autonomy to introduce new courses, etc. is really not adding any value to increase competitiveness of Indian Higher education system in the global arena, nor is it helping to create the talent pool that the country requires to retain its competitive edge.
This means a lot is yet to be done, if India has to use education as a lever for economic, social and political transformation, failing which we will be soon losing out to our global competitors.
The present Indian higher education system faces three broad challenges – access, equity and excellence. While overcoming these challenges might look like a daunting task, the answer simply lies in technology, which if leveraged correctly, is a great leveler.
For instance, online platforms and ICT tools coupled with strong backing from top-tier institutions can be the answer to these challenges. Online platforms can provide access to quality education from top-tier institutes to millions of deserving students. Even in the remotest of areas, who would otherwise have no access to a good university and faculty. Thus forced to settle for lower quality alternatives.
Avagmah– a Bangalore based education technology startup is helping universities solve this very problem through technology in a managed services model. The company through its Avagmah Technology Platform empowers universities to extend reach of their traditional distance educationto thousands of deserving candidates without diluting quality of education.
Some of the prestigious central and state universities who have partnered with Avagmah, have already seen great traction with ~ 200% growth in student enrollments in a short span of 18 months. Just because these universities are now better prepared to meet the needs of ‘today’s learner’.
Such revolutions in education technology,has the power to democratize education and will not only address the demand-supply gap for quality education, but will fundamentally change the nature of several educational processes.
