Sibal Tells US 'Be Inclusive'

Acknowledging that India cannot create world-class universities by 2020 on its own, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal today invited United States collaboration.

''It's time for you to be inclusive,'' Sibal said opening an Education Summit attended among others by Yale University president Richard Levin, one of American academic leaders the Indian Minister visited last week.

''If you ask me can I build a world class university by 2020,'' Sibal posed, ''my answer is no. I cannot... But... can I lay the foundation for a world class university ? The answer is yes I can.'' He cited how Harvard-- ''my alma mater''-- had taken more than three centuries to emerge as a world class university.

His appraisal of Indian higher education quality and priorities came amid an exhortation to global academic leaders to work together to find low-cost solutions to pressing problems faced by India as well as the world.

Sponsored by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, FICCI Higher Education Summit 2009 Summit has been co-organised by the US-India Educational Foundation and the HRD Ministry.

''The challenges of the 21st century are truly global and we need to meet these challenges together,'' Sibal said, adding that ''solutions to these challenges will have to come from the academia, not from business houses.'' As the onetime lecturer-turned-lawyer-turned-politician put it, some 220 million Indian kids currently go to school, of whom only 26 million reach college.

India hopes to raise that number by 2020 to 66 million while absorbing into the economy another 150 million who pass out of schools. ''It's a daunting task.'' The move to create 14 world class universities was announced a year and a half ago by then HRD Minister Arjun Singh and has since been reiterated among others by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well as Sibal.

In his keynote remarks, Prof Levin had recounted three ways in which world class universities contribute: through research, education and institutional citizenship.

-- By facilitating advancements in science, technology and medicine, research universities help spur economic prosperity and progress in health and quality of life in communities.

-- By educating students, great universities prepare the next generation of leaders, leaders who will be able to tackle new problems and new situations with maturity and flexibility and who see the world with curiosity and an open mind.

-- By acting as models of institutional citizenship, world-class universities contribute to the betterment of society and instill in their students social responsibility and an appreciation of service to their communities.

Prof Levin stressed that these elite universities be accessible and affordable and ''not merely available to those whose families can pay for it.'' Reflecting how such universities take a long time to develop, Sibal remarked that ''the existing institutions in higher education don't deliver on quality.'' Sibal said that in India there was an economic opportunity waiting to be tapped of finding unique solutions specific to India and applicable to other parts of the world.

These opportunities would arise as the country develops and requires skilled manpower like engineers, doctors, paramedics and paralegals.

He said these solutions would emerge from concerted and collaborative efforts of academia. ''It is in the interest of foreign education providers to develop appropriate, green technologies that are low-cost so that the community at large can benefit from such solutions.'' Noting that the US has led the world in all developmental endeavours, Sibal said, ''It is time for it to become inclusive in its thinking. It is also the time to put education on the same pedestal as business.''' In his address, Prof Levin said building world class universities ''is a Herculean task. It has never been done before in one concerted effort, by one country. And it requires more than money.

''But if India succeeds the impact on Indian society and its aspirations to world leadership will be limitless. It is through world class universities that the seeds of innovation are planted and the next generation of leaders acquires the caspacity to lead.

''As this dream is pursued it will be important to ensure that even these elite universities are accessible and affordable and not merely available to those whose families can pay for it.'' He said increasing access to higher education in India would require expanding enrollment at existing institutions and creating many new ones.

Prof Levin said world-class research took substantial resources and it was important to allocate these resources to produce maximum social benefit. ''This is one area where America has far outstripped the rest of the world, by allocating its public funding for research not by seniority and not by political give-and-take, but through strict meritocracy of peer review. India would be well advised to adopt this model.'' FICCI President Harsh Pati Singhania suggested a reform agenda to make the Indian higher education sector future ready. He advocated mainstreaming vocational education and regulatory changes conducive to entry and growth of quality higher education institutions.

Sibal released a FICCI-Ernst & Young (E&Y) Report on the imperatives for higher education sector in India which records increasing participation of private sector in Indian higher education.

With more than 400 universities and over 20,000 colleges, of which almost half were set up in the last decade, the student enrollment has crossed 12.9 million in 2007-08, clocking a compounded annual growth rate of 6.2 per cent since 1985-86.

It said although 63 per cent of total higher education institutions were private unaided institutions, the Indian higher education system demonstrates many structural shortcomings.

It mentioned concerns in such areas as financing, use of information and communication technology, research, skill development and regulatory oversight, which affect quality, access and equity.

The other speakers included US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Steven J White and FICCI Higher Education Committee chairman HS Ballal and co-chairman J S Neerav.

-- (UNI) -- 06DI30.xml

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