Industry insight - higher education in India

There were 20 Universities and 500 Colleges at the time of independence. At present, India is the largest higher education system in the world with 504 Universities and university-level institutions (as on 31.12.2009) - 243 State Universities, 53 State Private Universities, 40 Central Universities, 130 Deemed Universities, 33 institutions of national importance established under Acts of Parliament five Institutions established under various State legislations. In addition, there are 25,951 Colleges including around 2,565 Women Colleges. Out of 25,951 Colleges, 7,362 Colleges (28%) have been recognized under Section 2 (f) and 5,997 Colleges (23%) under Section 12-B of the UGC Act, 1956. At the beginning of the academic year 2009-2010, the total number of students enrolled, in the formal system, in the Universities and Colleges has been reported at 13.642 million - 1.669 million (12.24%) in University Departments and 11.973 million (87.76%) in affiliated colleges. Keeping this scenario as the backdrop, the report attempts to cover the higher education system in India, the structure of various universities and curricula offered, the genesis of private initiative and its present status, initiatives taken by the Government to improve the backbone of the country's higher education system and above all a special focus on the MBA education - its issues and challenges, placements and a broad comparison with foreign MBA institutes. The focus of the report is on higher education system and MBA education in particular. This report has in total 9 chapters and discusses all the pertinent issues related to management education in India. The report will be useful for educationists, research scholars, private entrepreneurs interested in investment in higher education, foreign research bodies inclined to do research on higher education in India, private MBA schools and financial institutes/banks.