The academic universities have been the backbones of the national development of any emerging country since centuries. In India, their influence not only on individual life but also the socioeconomic course of the nation has been massive. With the emergence of plans to be a world knowledge hub, the quality and influence of its academic universities are at the center of the transformation. India’s higher education system, its world’s second-largest such system, is increasingly shaped by the changing role of its universities as drivers of research, innovation, policy, and global competition.
India’s system of higher education in the present times includes more than 1,100 central, state, private, and deemed universities, with more than 52,000 colleges and 10,000 stand-alone institutions. Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher education was 28.4%, as per the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2021-22, reflecting an upward trend towards accessibility. The rise in infrastructure has been phenomenal in increasing learning opportunities, particularly among historically disadvantaged groups and rural masses.
But the university contribution is not just in numbers in enrollments. Their greatest contribution is increasing the level of learning through intense course development, work-based learning, and inter-disciplinary research. The premier institutions such as Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), and central universities such as Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), University of Delhi, and Banaras Hindu University (BHU) have been successful in providing quality education, which is world renowned. IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, and IISc Bangalore were in the top 200 universities of the QS World University Rankings 2024, reflecting the growing standards of Indian academia.
One of the most important roles played by academic universities is that they are research and innovation hubs. Indian governments have placed more importance on research-oriented education, and initiatives like the National Research Foundation (NRF) under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. More than 40,000 PhDs are given in India annually, and that too is on the rise. The IISc, the IITs, AIIMS, and a few private institutions are carrying out world-class research in AI, robotics, green energy, and health sciences. India’s contribution towards science in terms of publication of research work has also seen a phenomenal rise: 62,955 in 2010 to more than 175,000 in 2022 according to the report submitted by Scopus.
Indian universities have also been a strategic force towards the creation of quality human capital for the Indian as well as global economy. India’s success in information technology industry, biotechnology, banking, and entrepreneurship ecosystem is directly dependent on the talent that emerges from such an institution of higher learning. Actually, the Ministry of Education’s move towards implementing the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) has made institutions introspect on multiple drivers of performance such as employability, research, graduation rate, and outreach. More than 85% of the student body of top universities are placed or pursue further studies within a period of less than six months after passing out, as per NIRF 2023.
The second internal reason is the role of e-learning and digital transformation in universities. Digital platforms were implemented faster by COVID-19 in education. Universities partnered with platforms such as SWAYAM, NPTEL, Coursera, and edX to provide quality content at a mass level. SWAYAM platform itself is providing over 2,000 MOOCs with over 20 million enrollments, providing high-quality education for everyone. To enable virtual labs, online proctored tests, and AI-based learning analytics are also surfacing as the short-term option to help deliver continuity of learning and quality assurance requirements.
NEP 2020 has redefined the Indian higher education university ecosystem, seeking to move away from traditional silos to converged and multidisciplinary learning. Experiential learning, critical thinking, and adaptive academic infrastructure are being prioritized. Universities are now being forced to transform into Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs) in order to design a mechanism that ignites creativity and innovation. The initiative is set to place India’s higher education on the global map, and its graduates are becoming increasingly employable and adaptive.
Internationalization is another area where academic universities are charting the course to introduce quality in education into India. There are more than 50,000 international students arriving in India from other nations such as Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and African nations. Foreign institutions are forming partnership with Indian institutions, providing double degrees, student exchange programs, and collaborative research work. There are institutions such as Ashoka University, O.P. Jindal Global University, and IIT Madras that have already been entering into academic collaboration with highly ranked institutions such as Harvard, MIT, University of Oxford, and Stanford.
Universities are also drivers of social change, empowering the underprivileged and underrepresented. Quotas for reservations, SC/ST/OBC/EWS scholarships for students, and Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) are being implemented at the university level by government policies. The proportion of female students in higher education has risen to 49%, and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes students have grown numerous times in the last ten years, an indicator of good social change.
Private institutions have also contributed to building quality and education infrastructure. Amity, BITS Pilani, Shiv Nadar, Manipal, and Symbiosis are a few examples that have put large amounts into faculty upgradation, internationalization, and incubation of research. The NAAC and UGC have made quality audit a formal process through ranking the institutes and enforcing conformity to a floor level of academic standards.
Apart from this, integrating entrepreneurship and skill-development education into curriculum is making Indian universities innovation and start-up centers. Atal Innovation Mission, AICTE Innovation Councils, and University Incubation Centers are supporting students in transforming ideas into scalable enterprises. DPIIT report highlights that more than 1,500 start-ups have been incubated by higher education institutions directly influencing the Indian economy and employment.
Even with the progress, issues need to be resolved. The majority of state universities are poorly staffed, antiquated in curriculum, and inadequately equipped. The UGC also observes that more than 40% of the teaching positions in state universities are vacant and that most institutions have no modern laboratories, libraries, and facilities to access international journals. Integration of the topmost institutions with the run-of-the-mill state universities needs to take place to improve quality across the board. The government needs to keep investing in capacity building, faculty capacity, and information infrastructure for long-term equity and quality. Conclusion
In conclusion, India’s higher education system of universities is the driver of national development, social progress, and global competitiveness.
Their role goes beyond classroom teaching to encompass research, innovation, inclusivity, and international engagement. With skillfully designed change in NEP 2020, increased digitization, and employability orientation, Indian universities are now better placed than ever to lead the way forward for the quality of the Indian education system. To empower India to rightfully fulfill its aspirations of unleashing its demographic dividend and emerging as the world leader that it can become, making its academic universities stronger is an off-the-tracks necessity.
Prepared by
MD. Mujahid Irfan
Associate Professor,
Department of EEE, SR University, Warangal 506371, Telangana.
