China vs. India - a battle of the brains
In this brave new world of knowledge-driven economies, it is a battle of the brains. And in perhaps the biggest battle of them all—China versus India—a winner is emerging. If you guessed India, I’m sorry, you get the consolation prize. China is far outstripping India in the race to expand tertiary enrollment. Data collected by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics indicate that in 2006, China achieved a gross enrollment ratio of 22 percent, compared to only 12 percent in India. Granted, raw numbers don’t take into account variations in the quality of education. Nevertheless, India is clearly a laggard at 12 percent—and perhaps even less than that, according to data from the Program for Research on Private Higher Education.
What could explain India’s poor marks? One part of the explanation is India’s ambivalent relationship with the private sector as a provider of higher education. While private higher education has grown rapidly in India, both in terms of number of institutions and enrollments, many barriers still remain. According to the Program for Research on Higher Education, there is
...a huge problem for countries like India where conviction remains widespread
that education is a “public good” and should be “free.”
Coupled with this opposition to tuition is ambivalence toward the outside world. Foreign universities have taken steps to enter the Indian market, but the legal environment is vague, at best. Opponents of private education (and of foreign providers) raise legitimate concerns about guaranteeing the quality of education provided. Yet it seems that this could be dealt with appropriately through various quality assurance mechanisms, either through university associations or government regulation. The following are questions I will try to address in future posts: how should India expand access to higher education? What role can the private sector play? How should India deal with foreign providers of education? In other words, how can India compete in the battle of the brains?
PLUS: In case you missed it, just a few weeks ago the IFC held a conference on private sector involvement in education.
Comments (5)
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I would surely love to read your views on how private investment can transform the Indian education system, but I think brain intelligence cannot be measured by some technical-looking phrase like gross enrollment ratio. This term shows the progress in enrolment, not the existing intellectual property.
It is a well known fact that India is succeeds on the basis of a high-end technical knowledge based economy. Certainly there is a need for high private investment in the education sector in India, but we cannot deny the existing achievements of many central institutes.
And the Indian government will need the advice of experts like you on this issue. I hope to see more of your posts on it.
Posted by: Robins Tomar | Jun 6, 2008 4:43:16 AM
Intelligence by itself is a very relative terminology and has different definitions in different contexts. I therefore agree with Robins on the criterion for such a comparison. I believe that the measurement of the development of human mind intelligence should be based on host of parameters; PHds earned in a particular year, patents filled from a country, the increase in number of TV information channels, the increase in number of information books published in a year, to name a few.
It is high time the Indian Government should pay attention on how well it can cope with the demands for good higher education of such a vast nation. Freeing up the education sector could be one of the right steps.
Posted by: Rasika Gokhale | Jun 12, 2008 3:03:56 AM
There is enough of a private education sector in India - more so for higher education. And it is growing rapidly. The author needs to do more research to get the facts right.
The big challenge in India for setting up institutions of learning is land availability - which pushes up the cost.
Posted by: Rajeev Gopal | Jul 23, 2008 5:51:21 AM
The Chinese have worked long and hard to improve their educational system. They have shown tremendous progress over the past couple decades, and with good luck they will able to become a major power in higher learning.
I applaud them for being able to surpass India in terms of higher education. India had the advantage of vestiges of a colonial educational system that the British introduced to them when they were a crown dependency.
Posted by: Bryce | Aug 1, 2008 3:08:13 AM
My hunch is the Chinese students and their IT workforce will soon catch up with or likely overtake their Indian contemporaries. Indians used to have the edge in English owing to the British colonial leftover. But the Chinese have been hiring native English speakers like crazy to teach English in schools all over China -- at least that's the impression I've got from Youtube. I guess that explains why I had a much easier time understanding a foreign student from China than the Indian tech (or whatever the American companies have sourced) support guys/gals on the phone. Believe me, it wasn't because of the connection.
Posted by: Britanicus2 | Mar 7, 2009 10:20:13 PM