Invite foreign varsities or let a demographic disaster unfold: BU V-C

Bangalore University vice-chancellor N Prabhu Dev on Tuesday made a strong pitch to allow foreign universities to function in India.

At the Indo-Global Education Summit 2011 here, he said India does not have the capacity to meet the rising needs of educational requirements.

The country needs 1,000 universities but there are only 505. There are 50,000 colleges and there is a shortfall of 10 lakh faculty members.

“The government should make key decisions, otherwise it will become a demographic disaster, with only mouths to feed and no hands to work,” he warned.

Though India’s education system needs a systematic reformation, it has an uninviting nature, he noted. He lamented the fact that not a single Indian university figures in the list of top 100 universities in the world.

“The question is why can’t we build them? Especially in the higher education sector, there is a lot of political clout that dominates these institutions,” he said.

‘Immense opportunities’
Dev said opportunities in engaging foreign universities are immense. The key is to start collaborations right now so that we are ready for the future, he said. The Union cabinet has already approved the Foreign Education Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, and Parliament will vote on it in the near future.
Dev said there is a problem in the higher education sector in India as only 12% of the youth manage to enrol for courses. Foreign universities can provide new ideas in teaching method and curriculum.