Government and Higher Education in India Date:   Thursday , December 28, 2006 All parents save for the education of their children. When my son decided to take admission in Computer Science at NIT Nagpur, I was astonished by the low cost of his engineering education; ~$1000 – $1200 per year all inclusive! I hardly paid any money for my education at BITS Pilani and IIT Bombay. I don’t think I would have taken this path if there was no fee waiver, support in terms of Government scholarship for Bachelor’s and Master’s degree and very affordable cost of living on the campus. You only have to come out on top through a grueling competitive grind. India is emerging as a leading knowledge economy and its fast growing economic prosperity is primarily because of the high quality of its people who have succeeded globally. Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have provided high quality education to create CEOs, CTOs, scientists, and leading academics. Medical education in India should also be credited for producing world-class doctors. In fact, Indian doctors created a reputation for themselves even before the technology community. The reputation of good education has been the foundation for the relatively new BPO industry. It has created employment in other disciplines such as finance and legal and for other college graduates. With the exception of institutes like Indian Institute of Science and BITS Pilani, it is the Government that has created and funded top tier engineering colleges in India. Another discernible factor is that these institutes are autonomous in their operation. If Central Government has created IITs and IIMs, State Government backed RECs have carved a quality reputation for themselves. Encouraged by its success with IITs, the Government has converted RECs into National Institutes of Technology (NITs), made them autonomous, and provided central funding. Compared to the quality of education in Government-run institutions, the quality of education in private engineering colleges leaves much to be desired. If the reader does not believe this, a recruitment manager from any IT company will testify. Statistically, let us see how many private colleges are in the top league. There has been no dearth of funding and no shortage of good students. Yet, the Government wins. Private educators, who have not taken their institutes to top tier, need to ponder over this. If the cost was unaffordable, many promising students would have been deprived of this quality education. Loans as instruments for financing education would prove ineffective even if one deserving student decides against it. Let us find another way to tackle the problem of funding education for meritorious students who can’t afford it and if the Government does not want to subsidize it. Industry can contribute through an education fund. There is no reason for the Government to feel defensive about its role in higher education. On the contrary, the Government should increase funding for institutions of higher learning to keep the cost of education affordable. If tax money being spent on higher education seems unnecessary, the Government can make it mandatory for students passing out of such institutions to provide support for primary education. Better still, many Indians would not mind paying extra tax if they know that the money is being expressly spent on institutions of higher learning that have delivered. Indians are crossing a chasm. Let us stay on course where we have done well and rectify areas that need improvement. Indians have created a world-class capability through the Government and should be extremely proud of the same. The author is Founder & President, AirTight Networks. He was the former CEO of Tech Mahindra. He can be reached at kiran.deshpande@airtightnetworks.net