Blog #8: India Plans To Create 12 Times The Number Of Colleges As The U.S. By 2020

India has plans to create 12 times the number of colleges as the U.S. by the year 2020. There biggest problem is trying to educate about 100 million young people entering the workforce between now and 2020 out of the 600 million citizens under the age of 25. India’s current educational infrastructure cannot support this many people and the government has stated that in order to meet demand they need to had 1,000 universities and 50,000 colleges. Their current undergraduate educational system is struggling, with 1 of every 6 graduates employable right out of college. The rest require in-house training to bridge the gap. The two approaches that educational planners are using to reach their 50,000 college goal are one, allying with reputable universities from the U.S. and other countries to form long-term relationships. Two, institutions are bypassing the burdensome accreditation process. India initially is looking to build brick-and-mortar schools; the reality is new schools will increasingly be virtual. These new schools will likely be for-profit entities that lift the burden of in-housing training off of companies by partnering with them directly to custom fit student education directing into existing workplaces. India is trying to make it look like a liberal arts program hybridized with a technical degree that would hopefully increase student interest and employability. India’s new higher-learning institutions could possibly become competitive with and perhaps surpass U.S. online education.

Initially when I started reading this article I thought they were specifically talking about just a college/university but India has begun to think differently on their education reform efforts. From the article I’m guessing that this will be more of a two part thing, with an actual building/location but online aspect as well. I think in order to make a change in the way that education is viewed, there needs to be more people thinking outside of the box (like the way that India is thinking). They are trying to reform so that they can prepare their citizens with the necessary skills to enter into the workforce, which I think is good idea seeing that they are now emerging into a new wealth due to new policies and globalization. Many schools here in the U.S. are somewhat doing what India is currently trying to accomplish. I know here at UNCG they also offer online classes as well as the option of having an actual classroom to go to for instruction, but not on the level that I’m sensing that India is trying to reach. However, one thing that the article did not mention was how they plan to fund this risky project or what steps they have taken as far as getting this particular project done. I would be interested to know how they plan to get the ball rolling on trying to provide 50,000 colleges by 2020. 

http://singularityhub.com/2012/03/13/india-plans-to-create-12-times-the-number-of-colleges-as-the-u-s-by-2020/