Indian students can get degree worth $80,000 for $20,000 sitting home: Sibal

To cater to the growing demand for institutes of higher education, India needs at least 800 more universities and 35,000 colleges in 10 years, human resource development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal said on Wednesday.

He said that by 2020, India hopes to increase the percentage of students going for higher education from 12.4% to 30%. It is not possible for the government to do this alone, which is why it wants to involve the private sector and foreign education providers.
“India has about 480 universities and around 22,000 colleges… But we are still 40% less than the required numbers, which I think is critical,” Sibal said.

Trying to dispel the belief that foreign universities will cater only to the rich, he said Indian students would get a foreign degree at a much cheaper rate sitting at home. “A course that would cost an Indian student about $80,000 on foreign soil will now be available for $20,000.”

Rubbishing apprehensions that foreign universities will focus on ‘western education’, he said, “What is western in mathematics or physics? There is nothing like western connotation in education.”

Sibal said the gross enrolment ratio (GER) in most developed countries is between 40 and 53%, and India, with a growth rate of 8-9% per annum, needs more efficient manpower; otherwise there could be a lack of balance between the economy and the manpower serving it. He said foreign institutions will not only set up campuses in India, but also be involved in things like skill development and training.