Quality of Indian Higher Education: Global Challenges and Economic Development

Globalization has redefined the constituents and drivers of economic progress over last two decades. The traditional contributors of economic development and economic power such as material resources and production capabilities have been replaced by knowledge and information. Globalization has resulted in significant changes in the knowledge economy and ushered new conditions for the provision of higher education to cater the skill requirement all across the globe. Higher educational services have emerged over the last few years as a major economic sector for trade worth several billion dollars. The key elements of globalization include the knowledge society, information and communication technologies, the market economy, trade liberalization and changes in governance structures. These elements of globalization have impacted significantly the education sector in general and higher education in particular. The present study critically analyzes the growth of higher education sector in India and identifies the major concerns. It also evaluates the preparedness of the country for the opening up its border for foreign institutions.