DrEducation: Trends and Insights on Global Higher Education

In my earlier postings, I argued that Indians will continue to go abroad for higher education and US will maintain its prominence. The recent report by the Council of Graduate Studies confirms the trend. According to this report, applications from India for fall 2010 are up by 1%. Many expected that the impact of recession and increasing choices both at home and abroad would decrease the outward mobility of Indian students. However, I believe that outward mobility will remain high for at least three reasons:
1. Indian higher education system has grown at a rate much faster than the capacity of the economy to absorb.
2. Quality of higher education at majority of the institutions is mediocre resulting in skills gap and unemployability.
3. Further education options at the graduate level in India are not very aspirational, except MBA.


More Indians are aiming for top-100 institutions:
Within the US, Indian students continue to aspire for top-100 institutions. This is an indicator of the &q…

Dr. Surendra K. Kaushik
Founder and Chairman,
Mrs. Helena Kaushik Women's College

Professor, Pace University in New York
Blog: Kaushik College for Women
Blog: Surendra Kaushik's Blog

Dr. Surendra K. Kaushik founded the Mrs. Helena Kaushik Women’s College (www.helenakaushik.org)in India in 1999 which is affiliated with the University of Rajasthan. The college has grown on a 30-acre new campus with 760 graduates with a B.A. B. Sc, B. Sc in Biotechnology, B.Ed., M.A., and M.Sc. in Biotechnology from 2002 to 2010. He is producer of A College for Women documentary about the Mrs. Helena Kaushik Women’s P.G. College directed by Sanjay Singh which had its world premiere at the first Pravasi Film Festival and a special screening at the Press Club of India. Dr. Kaushik has been awarded the Aruna Asaf Ali Sadhbhavana Award of the Minorities League of India, Hind Rattan Award of the NRI Society of India, Shiromani Rashtriya Vikas Award of the Delhi Telugu Academy, The New York State Assembl…

Published an article on policy directions for engaging foreign education providers in India in University World News. I have co-authored with Professor Alan Ruby of the University of Pennsylvania. See other articles by Prof. Ruby.

We recommend five policy domains to make sure all of the nation's interests are served by this important opening up of an over-regulated, under-resourced sector of the economy to foreign education providers. It will help create an ecosystem of institutions of all kinds and all forms of ownership: public and private, Indian and international, research and vocational, religious and secular, charitable and for-profit.

1. Foreign institutions must be seriously committed to India: Protect the local consumer (student) by ensuring that foreign institutions are seriously committed to India.

2. Students must have better information about options: The government should have students as the focus of the policy directions and there is a need to support students to ma…

Professor Nigel Thrift
Vice-Chancellor
University of Warwick

Professor Nigel Thrift is a leading human geographer and social scientist, He is an Academician of the Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences and was made a Fellow of the British Academy in 2003. His current research spans a broad range of interests, including international finance; cities and political life; non-representational theory; affective politics; and the history of time. He took up his role as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Warwick in July 2006. He joined Warwick from the University of Oxford where he was made Head of the Division of Life and Environmental Sciences in 2003 before becoming Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research in 2005.

Rahul - In your recent article in the Chronicle you mentioned that there are very few significant institutional relationships and building relationships takes time and continuous effort. What are your top two recommendations for the Indian institutions who are seeki…