Higher Education: Issues & Options

Higher education is of great significance for the balanced development of an economy and shall definitely have its impact, especially for a developing country like India. Today, the system as whole, of higher education in India has grown a lot. The number of institutions has increased manifold. Enrolment in universities has also increased over the years, although still far below that in developed countries, and even less than in the South Asian countries. The responsibility of providing able and well-trained graduates is that of higher educational institutions of India. Higher education is inextricably linked with industry and the competitiveness of industry is determined by faster exploitation of new knowledge and technology. Therefore, the author believes that it falls upon the government and major industries to sponsor higher education in the country. With a perpetual resource crunch in the higher educational institutions, industrial support is naturally sought after. By this, the industries are sure of obtaining graduates trained in specific, state-of-the-art technology, to be absorbed in their firms. Eminent authors in the field have contributed articles in the book. Aspects like self-financing and TQM in higher education have been dealt with authoritatively. The book will certainly be of immense value to all institutions of higher learning on the one hand, and to HRD and personnel executives of major industries on the other hand, providing them with the justifications for sponsoring higher education.