India requires 2,500 universities to achieve 50% higher education enrollment

NITI Aayog CEO emphasises the need for 2,500 new universities to boost India's student enrollment to 50 percent, alongside the recognition of the country's digital infrastructure as a global leader.

In Short

• India needs 2,500 universities to enrol 50% of students, says NITI Aayog CEO
• Subrahmanyam highlights India's digital infrastructure as the largest global lab
• India’s university enrolment is only 29%, needing significant expansion

India needs to double its number of universities to 2,500 to achieve a 50 percent gross enrolment ratio in higher education, according to NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam.

Speaking at the Indian School of Business (ISB) on Friday, Subrahmanyam highlighted that despite establishing one university and two colleges every week over the past decade, only 29 per cent of the eligible age group currently enrol in universities.

Subrahmanyam noted that India, with its expansive digital infrastructure, has emerged as the world's largest laboratory for digital experimentation, offering unparalleled opportunities to test innovations at scale.

"Today we have 1,200 universities and slightly more than four crore students, but that's only 29 per cent of the cohort age enroll in the university system. Actually, at least 50 per cent of the students should be in colleges."

"We need to double the colleges and universities in the country. The country needs 2,500 universities. It may look like a lot of universities are not up to the mark or whatever, but the fact is, you need those numbers. Maybe we need to deliver education differently," NITI Aayog CEO was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

The CEO highlighted that India has developed an extensive digital public infrastructure by adopting a public-first approach instead of relying on private systems.

He added that while Estonia, with a population of just two million, was the first to implement digital identity, India achieved this on an unprecedented scale. With a population of 140 crore, the country now boasts a universal digital identity, and 120 crore individuals have access to bank accounts.

"India has become the biggest laboratory in the digital world. A laboratory where you can experiment at a scale which is impossible and inconceivable anywhere else, probably except the United States. Maybe we even leapfrog them for a variety of reasons," he said.

India has transformed into a digitally and financially connected nation with a robust identity framework, fostering a wave of continuous innovations, the NITI Aayog CEO said. He highlighted Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as a standout innovation, noting that 48 to 50 per cent of global financial transactions now take place in India. The country witnesses an impressive 10 billion transactions per month, characterised by high volume, albeit with relatively lower transaction values.

Highlighting the country's transformation in the last ten years, he added that by the end of next year, every village is expected to have access to a drinking water supply.

(With inputs from PTI)