HIGHER EDUCATION ON THE VERGE OF THE 21ST CENTURY

The present paper is an effort, to identify and discuss a number of critical issues, of Higher Education in India. Education is a process by which a person's body, mind and character are formed and strengthened and as a nation we can't break away from the moral obligation of providing high quality higher education to each and every young citizens of this country. India in last two decades has been credited to the higher education system which has been able to produce skilled manpower for the speedy industrialization and knowledge based economy and has become the hub of Information Technology (IT) & IT enabled services industry and manufacturing industry. To keep pace with the range of the demands of modern society the institutions of higher education have similarly been forced to diversify. Higher education in India thus, has been finding it difficult to meet the challenges of unplanned expansion, educated unemployment, uneven growth, commercialization of education, financial crises, teacher burnout and the digital divide of quantity versus quality, equity versus excellence, and creativity versus conformity which are posing continuous threats. However, there are gaps between the situations also in developing and developed countries, within urban and rural areas, between the wealthy and the poor, males and females, and among different ethnic groups.