Reimagining Higher Education in India | 24 Jan 2026

As India advances towards its Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, the higher education ecosystem stands at a critical inflection point where scale has been achieved but quality remains uneven. With the world’s largest youth population and rapidly expanding enrolments, universities are no longer merely sites of instruction but engines of innovation, social mobility, and national competitiveness. However, structural expansion without commensurate institutional capacity risks creating credential inflation rather than capability creation. This makes deeper, second-generation reforms in governance, pedagogy, and research indispensable for converting demographic advantage into developmental outcomes.

What is the Current Regulatory Framework for Higher Education in India?  

• The Apex Regulatory Layer (Status: Transitioning):  
  • University Grants Commission (UGC): Remains the primary funding and standard-setting body for universities (Central, State, Deemed).  
    • It still determines the "Minimum Standards of Instruction" and grants degree-granting status. 
  • All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE): Regulates technical education (Engineering, Management). 
  • National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE): Specifically regulates teacher training institutes (B.Ed, D.El.Ed), ensuring curriculum standards for educators. 
    • Currently, regulation is fragmented based on the "discipline" of education, but the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill (2025) aims to merge these into a single "Umbrella Body." 
• The Accreditation Ecosystem: 
  • NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council): An autonomous body established in 1994 by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to assess and accredit Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) in India. 
  • NBA (National Board of Accreditation): It assesses the quality of technical and professional programs, such as engineering. 
• Key Professional Standard-Setting Bodies: While the UGC/AICTE consolidate, specialized professions remain under their own "Guild Regulators" because these fields require specific practice licenses. 
  • National Medical Commission (NMC): Replaced the MCI, regulates medical education and licensing. 
  • Bar Council of India (BCI): Regulates legal education and law schools. 
  • Council of Architecture (CoA) & Pharmacy Council of India (PCI): Set curriculum and practice standards for their respective fields. 
  • Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI): Regulates Chartered Accountancy education, examinations, and professional practice under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949. 

What are the Key Developments in India's Higher Education System? 

• Emergence of Multidisciplinary and Research-Oriented Universities: India’s higher education is steadily transitioning from siloed institutions to multidisciplinary, research-driven universities aligned with NEP 2020.  
  • This shift strengthens problem-solving capacity, promotes innovation across disciplines, and improves graduate employability. 
    • Targeted funding and outcome-based reform signal a move from expansion to institutional excellence. 
  • For instance, under  PM-USHA, over 600 projects have been approved, with Multi-Disciplinary Education and Research Universities ( 35 select state universities) receiving grants of around ₹100 crore each to enable multidisciplinary transformation and research capacity building. 
• Streamlining Regulation for Greater Academic Autonomy: India is moving towards a single, unified higher-education regulator to replace fragmented oversight by bodies like UGC, AICTE and NCTE, in line with NEP 2020.  
  • The proposed Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill, 2025 (earlier HECI concept) aims to streamline regulation, reduce compliance burden, and enable multidisciplinary education.  
  • It envisages separate verticals for regulation, accreditation, and academic standards, promoting transparency and trust-based governance.  
    • Funding functions are to remain with the government, while medical and legal education are kept outside its ambit.  
• Strengthening the Research and Innovation Talent Pipeline: India is actively expanding doctoral education and competitive fellowships to build a robust research workforce.  
  • Enhanced funding and national missions are improving research quality, interdisciplinary work, and global collaboration.  
  • Under the new PMRF 2.0 scheme, announced in the Budget 2025-26, the government plans to award 10,000 new fellowships over the next five years to attract top talent for doctoral research at premier institutions like IITs and IISc. 
    • These steps position India to transition from knowledge consumption to knowledge creation. 
• Mainstreaming Artificial Intelligence and Digital Learning: AI and digital technologies are being integrated into curricula, pedagogy, and institutional governance, preparing students for future-ready careers.  
  • This enhances learning personalization, research productivity, and industry alignment.  
  • The Union Budget 2025–26 announced a dedicated Centre of Excellence in AI for Education with a budgetary allocation of ₹500 crore. 
    • The Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR)is now becoming the mandatory "digital spine" of the education ecosystem, linking degrees, skills, and transfers. 
  • Further AICTE declared 2025 the “Year of AI,” promoting AI-enabled curricula and has mandated all its affiliated institutions to submit AI Implementation Plans and adopt an AI Affirmation Pledge to integrate AI courses across all disciplines, including non-computer science branches like Mechanical and Civil Engineering. 
• Meaningful Integration of Indian Knowledge Systems and Languages: Higher education reforms are embedding Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) into mainstream disciplines with academic rigour.  
  • Linguistic inclusivity in teaching and research broadens access and contextual relevance. This synthesis of tradition and modernity strengthens India’s civilisational confidence. 
  • For instance, institutions like IIT Kharagpur have launched postgraduate programmes in IKS, supported by MoE curriculum and faculty-development initiatives. 
• Democratising Access to Knowledge and Research: Through, "One Nation One Subscription" (ONOS) Initiative, the government is democratizing research by centralizing journal subscriptions, removing the financial barrier that often cripples research in smaller, state-funded universities.  
  • This ensures that a student in a remote Tier-2 college has the same access to high-impact global research as a student in an IIT. The initiative provides access to over 13,000 journals for more than 6,300 government academic and R&D institutes including central and state-govt universities and colleges.  
    • This translates to nearly 1.8 Crore students, faculty and researchers getting access to high quality research publications. 
• Expanding Academic Flexibility Through Credit Mobility: The Academic Bank of Credits  and multiple entry–exit frameworks are institutionalising lifelong learning and learner mobility.  
  • These reforms enable students to customize learning paths while maintaining academic coherence. Digital platforms enhance transparency and portability of credentials. 
  • For instance, institutions like Delhi University have fully integrated credit transfer and modular degree pathways. 
• Advancing Internationalisation and Global Academic Engagement: India’s higher education ecosystem is becoming increasingly global through student mobility, joint research, and institutional partnerships.  
  • International exposure enhances academic standards and research impact while strengthening India’s global knowledge footprint. Policy focus is now on balancing inbound and outbound flows. 
  • The University of Southampton opened its first foreign university campus in Gurugram under UGC’s 2023 regulations, enrolling students in UK-standard programmes.  
    • Additionally, at least 12 foreign universities have received approval to set up campuses in India across Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Mumbai, and Chennai as part of the drive to internationalise higher education. 
• Institutionalising Student Wellbeing and Mental Health Support: Student wellbeing is now recognised as central to academic success and institutional quality. Higher education institutions are embedding counselling, mentoring, and stress-management systems into academic planning.  
  • This creates healthier, more resilient learning environments. 
  • For instance, UGC has issued a Uniform Mental Health Policy mandating counselling centres in HEIs. 
    • Several central universities have operationalised full-time mental health and mentorship frameworks. 

What are the Key Issues Associated with India’s Higher Education System? 

• The "Degree-Employability" Paradox: Indian universities are functioning as "degree factories" where theoretical rote learning supersedes practical skill acquisition, creating a massive workforce that is credentialed but not competent.  
  • This disconnect drives the phenomenon of "unemployable graduates", forcing industries to incur huge training costs or leave positions vacant despite high youth unemployment. 
  • A January 2026 report by TeamLease Edtech, (titled "From Degree Factories to Employability Hubs,") notes that 75% of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in India are not industry-ready. 
• Chronic Faculty Shortage & "Ad-hocism": The system is crippled by a severe scarcity of permanent faculty, leading to an over-reliance on temporary (ad-hoc) teachers who lack research incentives and job security.  
  • This erodes institutional memory, disrupts mentorship, and stalls the "Vishwaguru" aspiration of becoming a global knowledge hub. 
  • A 2024 Parliamentary committee revealed 56% of professor posts in Central Universities are vacant, with over 5,400 total teaching vacancies across central institutes. 
• Persisting Access Concerns Despite Higher Public Funding: While the Union Budget 2024–25 increased allocations for higher education, the underlying shift towards privatization and self-financing courses continues, limiting the real distributive impact of public spending.  
  • Much of the enhanced funding is absorbed by institutional expansion and capital outlays rather than scholarships and fellowships, leaving marginalized students vulnerable to rising fees.  
    • As a result, access for economically weaker sections remains constrained, and student unrest persists despite the apparent budgetary hike. 
• The Mental Health & Student Welfare Crisis: Campuses are increasingly becoming high-pressure cookers marked by academic hyper-competition, caste-based discrimination, and social isolation, with inadequate institutional support mechanisms.  
  • The lack of functional wellness centers and the stigma around seeking help have turned student distress into a silent epidemic. 
  • For instance, a NIMHANS, Bengaluru study found that 12.3% of participants reported suicidal ideation in the previous year, 5.2% had attempted suicide, and over one-third (34.8%) of those with ideation went on to attempt suicide. 
• Research Stagnation & Bureaucratic Red Tape: Despite the launch of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), India’s research output is hampered by delayed grant disbursements, lack of autonomy, and poor infrastructure in state universities.  
  • The ecosystem rewards "safe" theoretical papers over high-risk innovation or patentable technology, keeping India's R&D impact low globally. 
  • Further,  India’s R&D expenditure remains stagnant at 0.64% of GDP, far below China’s 2%, limiting innovation . 
• Higher Education Ranking and Accreditation Challenges: India’s higher education quality assurance is hampered by limited accreditation coverage and concerns over credibility, which undermine the reliability of rankings and institutional quality signals.  
  • Despite NAAC’s role in promoting standards, procedural gaps and integrity issues have eroded trust, affecting how institutions are perceived domestically and internationally.  
  • For instance, over 30% of higher education institutions in India are still not accredited by NAAC, leaving a large proportion operating without formal quality validation. 
    • These challenges also constrain the impact of frameworks like NIRF, with few Indian universities consistently ranked at the top globally. 
• Regional & Social Disparities in Access (GER): While the overall Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is improving, it masks deep geographical and social fissures, with high concentration in southern states and low enrolment in the hinterlands.  
  • The "massification" of education has not been equitable, as Tier-2/3 city students struggle with poor quality infrastructure compared to their metropolitan peers. 
  • The North-South Divide persists, Southern states continue to lead significantly. Tamil Nadu (47%) and Kerala (41.3%) have GERs nearly double those of northern states like Bihar (17.1%) and Uttar Pradesh (24.1%). 
• The Examination Integrity Crisis: The credibility of centralized entrance tests has collapsed due to repeated administrative failures, leading to massive litigation and loss of student trust.   
  • For instance, the centralization of exams under the National Testing Agency (NTA) has created a "single point of failure," where one leak affects millions, causing psychological trauma and delaying academic calendars nationwide. 
  • The NEET-UG 2024 paper leak scandal affected 24 lakh aspirants, leading to CBI investigations in states like Bihar and Gujarat. 
    • Additionally, the UGC-NET June 2024 was cancelled a day after being held due to compromised integrity. 
• Political Erosion of Institutional Autonomy: Universities are increasingly becoming ideological battlegrounds where the appointment of Vice-Chancellors (VCs) is driven by political loyalty rather than academic merit. This "governance paralysis" delays decision-making and curriculum reforms, as State Governments and Governors (Chancellors) lock horns over control, leaving top posts vacant. 
  • For instance, in 2024-25, universities in Kerala and West Bengal faced administrative gridlock due to VC appointment disputes.

What Measures are Needed to Strengthen Higher Education in India ? 

• Institutional Autonomy via "Graded Self-Governance" Frameworks: To dismantle the "affiliation raj," regulators must aggressively transition universities towards a Maturity-Based Graded Autonomy model.  
  • This involves replacing rigid, top-down inspection regimes with a "light but tight" oversight mechanism where high-performing institutions earn total academic, administrative, and financial freedom.  
  • By decoupling operational decisions from bureaucratic approval, institutions can rapidly innovate curriculum and launch niche courses.  
    • This shift empowers leadership to act as "Edu-Entrepreneurs" rather than administrators, fostering a culture of accountability and rapid responsiveness to global educational trends. 
• "Triple Helix" Innovation Clusters for Regional Development: Universities must move beyond isolated existence to become the core of Hyper-local Innovation Clusters, adopting the "Triple Helix" model of Government-Academia-Industry collaboration.  
  • Institutions should be incentivized to map their research directly to the specific economic and developmental needs of their immediate geographic region (e.g., agritech in rural belts, textiles in industrial hubs).  
  • This creates a symbiotic ecosystem where students work on live regional challenges, industries get tailored R&D solutions, and universities become indispensable engines of local economic growth rather than just degree-granting silos. 
• Mainstreaming "Apprenticeship-Embedded" Degree Architectures: India must aggressively pivot from "theory-first" to "Competency-Based" Credentialing, where every general stream degree (BA, BSc, BCom) mandates an immersive apprenticeship component.  
  • By integrating the National Credit Framework (NCrF) with industry skill standards, universities can offer degrees where 30-40% of credits are earned in the corporate office.  
    • This dissolves the employability gap by ensuring graduates possess "tacit knowledge" and soft skills that classroom lectures cannot impart, effectively turning higher education into a continuous pipeline of "job-ready" talent. 
• Modernising Faculty Tenure via "Professor of Practice" Integration: Addressing the faculty crunch requires a dual-pronged strategy: institutionalising Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for existing staff and normalizing the "Professor of Practice" (PoP) track.  
  • The PoP model allows distinguished experts with non-academic industry experience to teach without the traditional PhD prerequisite, injecting market realism into the syllabus.  
    • Simultaneously, tenure tracks for regular faculty should be linked not just to research output but to "andragogical innovation" (teaching excellence) and institutional service, creating a balanced academic workforce that values mentorship as much as publication. 
• Financial Resilience through "Diversified Endowment" Mechanisms: Public universities must reduce their singular reliance on state grants by developing robust, professionalized Endowment Management Offices.  
  • Following the model of the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA), institutions should be empowered to leverage their alumni networks, patent portfolios, and consultancy arms to build a sovereign corpus.  
    • This financial autonomy allows for long-term strategic investments in "high-risk, high-reward" research infrastructure and student welfare that government budgets often cannot cover, insulating the academic core from fiscal volatility. 
• Democratising Quality via "Phygital" Learning Ecosystems: The future lies in breaking the "Iron Triangle" of access, cost, and quality by embracing a "Phygital" (Physical + Digital) delivery architecture.  
  • Top-tier institutions should function as "hub" universities, broadcasting high-quality lectures and resources to "spoke" colleges in remote areas via the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) system.  
  • This creates a "networked university" model where a student in a rural college can earn credits from a premier institute, ensuring that geography is no longer a barrier to accessing world-class pedagogical content and standardized assessment. 
• "Internationalisation at Home" via Twinning & Joint Research: Instead of solely focusing on sending students abroad, India must prioritize "Internationalisation at Home" by operationalizing Twinning Programs and Joint Degree regulations.  
  • By simplifying the regulatory pathway for Foreign Higher Education Institutions (FHEIs) to partner with Indian counterparts, we can import global best practices in curriculum and governance directly onto Indian campuses.  
  • This strategy prevents "brain drain" by offering global exposure domestically and fosters "Collaborative Online International Learning" (COIL), raising the aggregate benchmark of Indian higher education. 
• Depoliticising University Leadership Appointments: A transparent, rule-based VC appointment framework should be institutionalised through an independent National Higher Education Leadership Commission.  
  • Search-cum-selection committees must have a clear majority of eminent academics, fixed timelines, and publicly disclosed shortlists to reduce discretion.  
  • Binding SOPs should limit the role of Chancellors/Governments to procedural oversight, not veto power. This would ensure merit-based leadership, continuity in governance, and insulation of universities from partisan conflict. 

Conclusion: 

India’s higher education journey has moved beyond the challenge of expansion to the imperative of excellence with equity. Achieving Viksit Bharat 2047 will depend not on policy vision alone, but on institutions that function autonomously, innovate fearlessly, and deliver employable knowledge at scale. Second-generation reforms must therefore convert universities from degree-dispensing centres into engines of research, skills, and social mobility. Only then can India transform its demographic dividend into a lasting developmental advantage.