By Siddharth Srivastava
The IITs and the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), which arealso to be expanded, are the two pedestals of the Indian education system, with alumni now employed as managers and engineers around the world. The IIMs and IITs function under a government charter and figure among lists of the world's 100 best management and technology institutes - in the same league with schools such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the
The belated efforts of the government are welcome, but there will be no easy answers as
Even after the expansion, only a few thousand students will be selected for the IITs and IIMs from hundreds of thousands of applicants. For the undergraduate B-Tech and M-Tech programs offered through IIT-JEE (Joint Entrance Examination), for instance, around 350,000 students will compete for 5,000 seats.
Similarly, for the blue-chip Indian Institute of Management (IIM), only 1,200 from a pool of about 250,000 applicants manage to procure seats each year. This makes the exam even more selective than all the top
More than 90% of Indian students seeking admissions in the most desired IITs and IIMs are rejected due to capacity constraints, according to a 2008 report by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). Forty percent of those who fail to qualify pay to study abroad, the report said. The group claimed about 450,000 Indian students are spending over US$13 billion on higher education abroad.
"Over 150,000 students go overseas every year for university education, which costs
Deregulation of government-controlled higher education could create annual revenues of $50-100 billion and provide 10-20 million additional jobs in the education field alone, the chamber said. It may also attract foreign students. Only 27,000 foreigners at present study in
Implementation of a federal government blueprint for greater private and foreign participation in higher education has been stymied due to opposition by leftist parties and differences within the government.
Critics say the government's plans for IIT/IIM expansion could dilute the institutions' highly regarded reputations.
Ashok Misra, director of IIT Bombay, has been in favor of creating "quality under a different brand name and mandate. They can be as good or even better than IITs, but mixing a 50-year old [IIT] brand name with a new one does not make sense."
Brand reputation and competition have been linked to opening
A global employment outlook report conducted by Manpower Inc says that
Nearly 85% of IIT graduates have opted to stay back and pursue a career in
This "reverse flow" began in 2002, according to the study, with only 16% going abroad in the period until 2008. In contrast, between 1964 and 2001, 35% of IIT graduates preferred to work in the
Even so, the growing Indian economy is grappling with severe manpower shortages. The talent crunch has forced employers to hand out 15% salary increases in the past fiscal year, much more than in the US (5.5%) and China (8%).
An assessment by the human resources firm Hewitt Associates reports: "The growth in salaries is due to lack of talent in the market while companies are growing at a fast pace [30% to 35% in telecom, retail]. The supply is not keeping pace with the demand. There's a 10% to 15% shortage of talent across various levels."
With luck,
Siddharth Srivastava is a New Delhi-based journalist.