Indian Higher Education System in The Recent Times

Abstract

Casting off the shackles of geographical boundaries of the highly inward oriented higher education system since Independence, the New Education Policy has set the stage to take India to the global stage, it long deserved. This has been the first time in the education history of India, that the UGC and the government has taken a bold initiative to integrate Indian higher education system with the international education and making meticulous efforts by evolving implementation strategies and regulations to make it world class. Higher education in India remained highly inward oriented despite several post-independence reforms in education sector. In terms of number of educational institutions, India has the world’s largest higher education system with about 1,000 universities and 40,000 colleges whereas it ranks third in terms of size and diversity, but its presence in the international education system has been abysmally below its true potential that remains unexplored. These include higher education in the fields of technical, medical, law, forestry, etc. The present situation of higher education system in India is complex and challenging.