Higher education in India

Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore

Higher education system in India includes both public and private universities. Public universities are supported by the union government and the state governments, while private universities are mostly supported by various bodies and societies. Universities in India are recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC), which draws its power from the University Grants Commission Act, 1956. The main governing body is the University Grants Commission, which enforces its standards, advises the government, and helps coordinate between the center and the state.[1] Accreditation for higher learning is overseen by various autonomous institutions established by the University Grants Commission (UGC).[2]

As of 2020, India has over 1000 universities, with a break up of 54 central universities, 416 state universities, 125 deemed universities, 361 state private universities and 159 Institutes of National Importance which include AIIMS, IIMs, IIITs, IISERs, IITs and NITs among others.[3][1][4][5][6][7][8] Other institutions include 52,627 colleges as government degree colleges, private colleges, standalone institutes and post-graduate research institutions, functioning under these universities as reported by the MHRD in 2020.[9] Apart from these institutions, there are several parallel, state, and nationally accredited bodies that provide professional and vocational educational programs like the National Skill Development Corporation, Gramin Skill Development Mission, the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, etc. Distance learning and open education of the Indian higher education system are overseen by the Distance Education Council.[10] Colleges may be autonomous, i.e. empowered to examine their own degrees, up to PhD level in some cases, or non-autonomous, in which case their examinations are under the supervision of the university to which they are affiliated; in either case, however, degrees are awarded in the name of the university rather than the college. Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is the oldest distance education university in the country, transitioning from correspondence to online delivery of education, and has the largest number of student enrollments.[11]

India is one of the countries that have historical evidence of systemic education dating back centuries in the world, though it has suffered destruction, manipulation, and reconstruction multiple times under the attack of foreign powers, power-hungry regimes, and colonization. Despite the aftereffects of it, it is one of the agile systems that has shown capability of continuously innovating through nation-building and transformative programs like National Education Policy 2020 due to the self-expanding values and socio-cultural flexibility.

  1. ^ a b India 2009: A Reference Annual (53rd edition), 237
  2. ^ "Higher Education, National Informatics Centre, Government of India". Education.nic.in. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
  3. ^ "Statistics – Ministry of Human Resource Development" (PDF). mhrd.gov.in. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  4. ^ "Central Universities". ugc.ac.in. Archived from the original on 2 July 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
  5. ^ "List of State Universities" (PDF). 27 May 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 May 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
  6. ^ ":::Deemed University – University Grants Commission". ugc.ac.in. 23 June 2008. Archived from the original on 29 November 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
  7. ^ ":::Private Universities – University Grants Commission". ugc.ac.in. 1 August 2011. Archived from the original on 6 February 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  8. ^ "The Institutes of National Importance" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2009.
  9. ^ "MHRD Dashboard". Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  10. ^ Blackwell, 96
  11. ^ "Profile of IGNOU – Preamble". Ignou.ac.in. Archived from the original on 16 December 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2011.