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By: Dr. Surendra K. Kaushik, Professor of Finance, Pace University, NY, USA
Founder, Mrs. Helena Kaushik Women’s College, Malsisar, Rajasthan, India
India can build a bright future for itself based on the success it has achieved as a Democratic economic system in its first fifty-four years since independence in 1947.
A key factor in achieving independence and building a base for success has been the role of higher education. Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and many other leaders were effective because of their higher education and the proper use of it to the benefit of the country. The system of higher education the central government has been able to create since the early 1950’s with the foreign help and indigenous talent and resources is the principal source of India’s ability to supply educated human resources to itself and to many other countries in a wide array of industrial and scientific activities. It is worth noting that the two percent of all Indians who have a college degree have contributed so enormously to the recent development and growth of the Indian economy. This is inspite of the fact that perhaps 5 Million of the 20 Million with college education (out of a population of one billion) have left India for greener pastures. Of course the five million NRI’s and PIO’s have contributed to the replenishment of nearly all foreign exchange reserves in 1991 and then some with current total at over $45 Billion.
India can accelerate the growth of its economy to the desired 6-7% a year, compared with 3% annual growth up to 1990 and 5% in the 1990’s,if it can increase the percentage of its people with college education. There appears to be a very strong causal relationship between college education and the economic standing of a country as we appreciate the United States at the top of the world economy with 25% of its population with college degrees. Most other countries fall between India and the US where the Scandinavian countries are near the US performance in both variables. Countries below India’s economic standard also have smaller percentage with higher education. Statistics generally available from individual countries, the UN -World Bank group suggest the outcomes discussed here.
One great limitation of India’s small success in higher education has been the accesses to college education to women of India, only an eight-tenths of one percent have college education. This is a colossal under utilization of potential human resources and building up an educated society from grade one which is primarily dependent on an educated young mother. The current goals for universal primary education in India and the world are most commendable but a proper focus on higher education can reduce the waiting period of decades to come in building human resources needed for say a 7% annual growth of the economy. A good outcome one notices in statistics on higher education collected by the ministry of education of the government of India is that the proportion of women in health, sciences, business, liberal arts and other fields of study has increased to somewhere between one-third and one-half; engineering is the only field where the proportion is still less than one-third.
India has also been wise in creating many polytechnic and engineering colleges compared with other developing countries and it is benefiting from the graduates who have serving India’s business and becoming entrepreneurs on their own. A related fortunate process in play in India is emergence and rapid spread of institutions of higher learning in the private sector. A growing proportion of these institutions are for profit and therefore foster competition in quality of education among themselves and against public institutions. This mix is perhaps the best in India among developing countries and can help a faster growth of college educated human resources under proper supervision of friendly but tough supervisory boards and accreditation standards at the state and the central levels.
Tertiary Education Enrollment (1980-1995)
Higher education can also be a key instrument of rural development, where nearly 65% of the population still lives as it did when Gandhiji emphasized rural development at the time of independence, if colleges are located in rural areas and used for degree and non- degree adult and extension educational programs particularly when the aide of technology and a strong emphasis on higher education for women.
We wish Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his government a grand success in connecting higher education and India’s future.
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