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Universities differ in terms of their academic, administrative and financial arrangements. The country is dominated by state universities, which are 251 in number while a majority share of colleges in India are private unaided institutions. The number of universities has increased by around 13% in 2007-08, as compared to the last year. Colleges in India witnessed a growth of over 14% in 2007-08 on a year on year basis. Private unaided colleges form a significant part of the total number of colleges in India and are growing rapidly in number. Out of 20,667 colleges, 2,166 colleges are explicitly for women. Besides these colleges, the country also has around 7,000 technical education institutions. By 2015, India is expected to witness a sizeable reduction in the lowest income earning section of the society, which will be replaced by a much larger urban middle class, creating a favourable market for the education sector (refer to exhibit 3). Education is the second largest expenditure for the middle class (refer to exhibit 4). Economic growth is expected to drive household income among the middle class. These factors willingness to spend on education and the rise in purchasing power will allow the growing middle class to bid for an education from public institutes.
Exhibit 3 Favourable Demographics is the Key Factor for Higher Education Institutions Growth
Establishing strong partnerships between private sector enterprises and the public sector, including the government and regulators, is the clear need of the hour for this growth to be achieved. At the same time, private higher education institutions need to embrace best in breed governance, operating and financing models to build institutions of the highest quality and standards. Though, not active players in the higher education space at present due to structural and regulatory challenges, private equity investors could play a key role in the expansion of Indias higher education infrastructure. The report has attempted to provide an overview of specific considerations that would drive investor interest in the education space based on our interaction with teams at some of the leading private equity funds active in India. Possible PPP Structure The educational institute (special purpose vehicle SPV) is set up as a Society or Trust, as per applicable guidelines. The UGC and AICTE or some other government body approves norms and standards of the institute. The state provides applicable administrative and financial support to the institute. Capital outlays are met by an educational services entity which provides infrastructure. The educational services entity charges a fee for use of facilities by the Society or Trust. The infrastructure facilities are transferred to the institute after several years (Refer to exhibit 5). Private enterprises have used innovative models and novel strategies to attain scale in the India higher education segment. As per current enrollment trends, India will see a shortage of 5 mn graduate seats by 2015 and 7 mn by 2020. The constraints are capacity constraints (Refer to exhibit 6), limited seats in IITs and IIMs a larger number to abroad, high entrance cut-offs for top universities / colleges, 1,00,000 students graduate from entirely unaccredited private institutions, quota reservations on the increase and large number of fly-by-night; operators. The market for higher education is projected to grow almost three times in the next 10 years; market size for Skill Development is projected to grow almost ten times, albeit over a smaller base. For this a network of public and private polytechnics and vocational institutions exists, controlled and supervised by the councils specializing in each discipline. There are nearly 10 mn students in 6500 institutions. Nearly 1500 colleges have been given facilities for vocational education.
Exhibit 5 A Public Private Partnership Model & Higher Education Institutes (Capacity)
4. Import of Education
Every year a large fraction of Indian students spend large sums of on a foreign education due to the letter system of education. Some trends relating to import of education are as follows (refer to exhibit 6): Indian spend USD 4bn annually on higher education abroad The U.S. continues to remain the most popular destination 71% are pursuing postgraduate courses in engineering and management Australia is a popular destination for vocational training and course in hospitality U.K.s popularity is due to the variety of one-year degrees on offer China and Russia are emerging as favored destination for medical education. Traditionally dominated by the public sector, the higher education market in India is being driven by private sector participation, with several high quality private institutes setting standards and pioneering growth. Globally some HEIs have rapidly attained scale over the last few years making them models for India HEIs to analyze and possibly emulate. The expenditure on higher education in India is estimated to be USD 6.5bn in 2008. It is expected to grow at 12% CAGR to reach USD 10.3bn by 2012 according to the 2009 Netscribes report on Higher Education. Private institutions have been focusing on the area of professional courses like 552
engineering and medicine as well as post graduate courses like MBA. Private set-ups account for 50% of the total medical seats and 80% of the engineering seats available in students in India. (Refer to Exhibit 7)
Exhibit 7 Indian Higher Education Segment & the Leaders in this Segment
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Requirement to use local partners, with at the same time a barrier against entering into and exiting from joint ventures with local or non-local partners on a voluntary basis. Excessive fees/taxes imposed on licensing or royalty payments. Restrictions on use/ import of educational materials.
The principal barriers to consumption abroad (mode 2, e.g.: students studying in another country) are: Measures that restrict the entry and temporary stay of students, such as visa requirements and costs, foreign currency and exchange controls. Recognition of prior qualifications from other countries. Quotas on numbers of international students in total and at a particular institution. Restrictions on employment while studying. Recognition of new qualification by other countries. For trade via commercial presence (mode 3: branch or satellite campus; franchises; twinning arrangements), common barriers include: The inability to gain the required licences to grant a qualification. Subsidies provided solely to local institutions. Nationality requirements. Restrictions on recruitment of foreign teachers. Government monopolies. Difficulty in obtaining authorization to establish facilities. Prohibition of higher education, adult education and training services offered by foreign entities. Barriers to mode 4, i.e. presence of natural persons (e.g. teachers travelling to foreign country to teach) are: Measures that restrict the entry and temporary stay and work for the service suppliers, such as immigration barriers, nationality or residence requirements, quotas on number of temporary staff, employment rules. Economic needs test. Recognition of credentials. Minimum requirements for local hiring being disproportionately high. Repatriation of earnings is subject to excessively costly fees or taxes for currency conversion.
Education process outsourcing with remote tutoring from India (along the lines of efforts by Career Launcher, Educomp Datamatics etc.) Mode 2: Students from developing countries studying in Indian engineering and medical colleges. Around 5,500 students from neighbouring developing countries (2001). Exchange programmes and twinning arrangements. Mode 3: Setting up of overseas campuses, franchising by Indian institutions. MAHE, BITS, Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages. Over 100 CBSE schools abroad, catering to diaspora. Mode 4: Indian teachers, lecturers teaching abroad in Middle East, Africa, researchers/scholars on visiting arrangements abroad. Some 10,000 secondary school teachers overseas. Recruitment of Indian teachers in Maths, Science, English. Potential as a regional hub for exporting higher education services.
The National Knowledge Commission (NKC) has recommended that the government will need to establish 1500 universities to meet their GER target. Thus, Indias low GER provides opportunity for new and existing players in the market including skill development and vocational training institutions (Refer to exhibit 9). The expenditure required in higher education will have to increase to 1.5% of the GDP from the existing level of 0.7%. This translates into a huge potential for about 22mn students enrolling in higher education institutions by 2012. The public spending is focused more on primary education leading to underdeveloped higher education sector in India. Public spend on education in India amounts to 5.2% of the worlds cumulative public spend, but India is home to 20% of the population in the target group. The investment in the higher education sector 556
increased from 0.67% of the total GDP in FY07 to 0.7% of the total GDP in FY08 whereas the share of higher education expenditure as a percentage of total education expenditure has declined from 17.4 in FY06 to 19.1% in FY08. Lack of higher education infrastructure has made it extremely difficult for India to act as a hub for professional education. The current higher education infrastructure can admit only 7-8% of the college students. India attracts 20,000 foreign students yearly, whereas China attracts more than 0.15mn students annually. Even though public expenditure on education has been rising, the investment per student is one of the lowest among other major countries (Refer to exhibit 10).
Exhibit 10 Low public spending on HE and Annual public spending on HE per Student
Exhibit 11 India is One of the Promising Global Destinations for Higher Education
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Source Compiled from Various Sources Exhibit 12 Extent and Intensity of Restrictions under Existing Regulations
Source The Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill, 2010 (FEI Bill), HRD Ministry Exhibit 12 Steps that are followed in the Review of an Application for notification of an FEI as an FEP as per the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill, 2010 (FEI Bill)
Tribunals. If implemented as envisaged, this Bill will expedite the process of resolving intra- and interinstitution disputes. National Commission for Higher Education and Research 2010 This Bill is currently in the process of being finalized and is open to feedback from public stakeholders. It has created a significant interest because it envisages the creation of the National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER) which will replace both the UGC, AICTE. This is based on the recommendations of both the Knowledge Commission and the Yash Pal Committee that have reposed their trust in an all powerful commission to rejuvenate the education system and remove multiple regulators. The Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill, 2010 (FEI Bill) Overview of the Bill The Bill seeks to include within its ambit all foreign education institutions (FEIs), whether existing and proposed, set up independently or in collaboration with an Indian partner/ education provider, an institution that provides education resulting in degree, diploma or certificate in India. Distance Education has been excluded from the ambit of the Bill. FEIs proposing to award degrees and diplomas are required to mandatorily seek notification from the Central Government as a Foreign Education Provider (FEP), subject to meeting specified eligibility criteria. These requirements are clearly aimed at ensuring that only established and financially sound FEIs qualify. Those providing certificate courses have lighter reporting requirements. Any FEI proposing to make an application for registration needs to have the application endorsed by the Embassy/ High Commission of the home country where the FEI is registered and situated. Every application must inter-alia contains: documentation to establish that the applicant has a 20 years track record in the home country undertaking to maintain a minimum corpus of ` 500 million status of accreditation in home country and information on the financial soundness of the applicant. The steps that are followed in the review of an application for notification of an FEI as an FEP are as detailed in Exhibit 13. The Bill prescribes norms for utilizing the income received from the corpus fund. It states that only 75% of the income received from the corpus shall be used by the FEP for development purposes and the remaining 25% must be deposited. There are not only caps on the amount that can be utilized, but also restriction on repatriation of surplus outside India, another measure aimed at protecting Indian students from flyby-night operators. Quality is ensured by mandating that the quality of programs offered in India is comparable with those offered by the FEP in its home country. It additionally ensures transparency by requiring FEPs to publish a prospectus 60 days prior to the commencement of admission for purpose of providing information, inter-alia, regarding fees, faculty and infrastructure to prospective students and to also provide specified details on its website. The Bill empowers the Government to exempt an applicant FEI with a reputation or international standing from all provisions of the Bill, except those relating to non-repatriation of surplus generated in India and penalties prescribed for violating provisions of the Act. Penalties have been prescribed for any FEI and any person/ Indian education provider for contravening the provisions of the law and can range from ` 1 to 5 million. This is a long awaited legislation which should open another avenue for capacity creation in the system as well as expose our domestic institutions to foreign competition. The existing policy regime is ambivalent and there are no regulations governing or enabling entry of a foreign education institution into India. It is, therefore, encouraging that the Government has finally acknowledged the need for a legislation that provides this clarity. The provisions of the Bill amply reflect a Government focus on quality, reliability and accountability of FEIs intending to establish in India, thus addressing major concerns which the opening up of an otherwise tightly regulated sector may bring up. It has already raised extensive debate. The primary criticism of the Bill is that it would create elitist institutions with exorbitant fee structures that will be unaffordable for the Indian masses. There are also apprehensions of domestic institutions being unable to compete. While it is true that these institutions are likely to have higher fees, it is equally true that they shall create new quality benchmarks and introduce a culture of high academic professionalism - thereby raising the bar for delivery of education in India. Access to needy but the deserving students can be enhanced by making them eligible for scholarships and the Governments subsidised student loans. On the flip side, prima facie, the Bill seems to be biased towards research oriented universities (fast track mechanism for reputed institutions). It is important to understand that given the huge demand-supply gap, the bulk of the institutions that are likely to have an interest in India are those whose focus is on teaching and 560
vocational/skill building. In this scenario it would be unrealistic to expect the top-notch universities like Harvard or Oxford to set up standalone campuses in India and have their autonomy and quality potentially compromised with all our regulatory constraints. Media reports have indicated that Oxford has no plans for setting up in India, Yale has merely accepted to act as mentor to the 14 innovation universities proposed by the Government and Harvard is content with providing executive programs to Indian corporate executives. In this scenario, it is only the next level of universities that might be interested in India. Many of these have very high standards and quality of education and accommodate the majority of the Indian students studying abroad. But they have no fast track mechanism under the Bill and are potentially subject to all the regulatory rigours and restrictions on autonomy.
12. Conclusion
There is much work to be done on all aspects of higher education. We believe that these Bills will lay the foundation for creating a modern framework to improve quality and check malpractices in the Higher Education space in India. They will create an enabling environment wherein multiple providers of education domestic and foreign, public and private, not-for-profit and, if the government deems fit, for-profit, can operate and compete to provide access to quality education. Higher education is the basis for the knowledge economy. India has a lower GER of only 11% of the 19-24 years age-group compared to 21% in China, 30% in Malaysia and 83% in the USA. Gender differences in attendance in higher education have declined for recent age-cohorts; but social group, income and rural location still influence access. Of the 12mn students enrolled, one third study in private sector institutions, the rest of the sector is of variable and on the average poor quality largely focused on undergraduate education in the arts, social science and humanities on the other hand post-graduate, professional degree and science and technology enrolments accounts for a smaller share. The scenario is even truer in private sector. The unemployment rate among tertiary graduates is 12% compared to 5% overall, reflecting perhaps a combination of initiatives to be taken. The present framework of GATS needs to be exploited by India to enable it to remain competitive in the global scenario. These are exciting times for higher education. The Government has made massive increases in budgetary allocations. It has also acknowledged the importance of private participation. There is a wide and growing spectrum of services being offered in this sector. These are almost entirely on a legitimate for-profit basis. We have the potential of becoming a global hub for education. The Government should work with all stake holders and seek to harness the creativity, energy and capability of the private sector and create synergies by working with, rather than in competition with it. The opportunity is real all stakeholders need to work together to capture it.
13. References
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Financial Express (06/02/2010), Govt. to ensure high standards for foreign varsity campuses in India, article by S. Saroj Kumar. GED-2009, Global Education Digest 2009 Comparing Education Statistics Across the World, UNESCO - UIS. Government of India - Annual Report 2009-2010, Ministry of Human Resource & Development, New Delhi. Government of India, Annual Report 2009-2010, Ministry of Labour and Employment, New Delhi http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/POP.pdf. Kuppusamy, S. Higher Education in India: an Overview, International Journal of Educational Administration, Volume 1 Number 1 (2009), pp. 51-58. Lucas, Robert E. (1988), On the Mechanics of Economic Development, Journal of Monetary Economics, 22. National Assessment and Accreditation Council, Performance Analysis of Universities Accredited by NAAC, January 2008. Negotiating Proposals on Higher Education by US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand submitted at the WTO. Sajitha Bashir (March 2007), Trends in International Trade in Higher Education: Implications and Options for Developing Countries, Working Paper Series, Number-6, World Bank. Solow, Robert. 1956, A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 70. Tilak, J. B.G. 2005. Higher Education in Trishanku. Economic and Political Weekly. September 10, p 4029-4037. Times Higher Education (2008): World University Ranking, The Times Higher Education Supplement, www.thes.co.uk. UNESCO (2009), Education For All Global Monitoring Report 2009 - Overcoming Inequality: Why Governance Matters, UNESCO, Oxford Press. 561
14. University Grants Commission, Higher Education in India: Issues related to Expansion, Inclusiveness, Quality & Finance, 2008. 15. www.aicte-india.org 16. www.dget.nic.in 17. www.education.nic.in 18. www.educationforallinindia.com 19. www.indiastat.com 20. www.ugc.ac.in 21. www.unesco.org
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