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Structure of Indian Higher Education

 

Inherited from the British Colonial Raj, India's modern educational system is similar in many ways to the British educational system. After Independence in 1947, Modern India began to focus on its industrialization strategy and creating a pool of talented human resources for fuelling economic development. Focus shifted to building elite tertiary institutions rather than strengthening primary education. India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru insisted on the foundation of elite technological training in engineering and management as a first step towards this larger objective. There has been a greater focus in recent years on reforming higher education, by adopting the American semester system model and the use of credits and letter grades. In addition to far-reaching reforms in the national higher secondary school exams, more changes are bound to be in the offing.
 

Indian Collegiate Education
 

Bachelor's Degrees  

• Bachelor's degrees in Arts, Science, Commerce and Social Science - 3 years

Bachelors Degrees - Professional 

• Architecture- 4 or 5 years B. Arch
• Dentistry- 4 years
• Medicine- 5.5 years including rotation
• Fine Arts/Music- 4 or 5 years B.Music/B.Fine Arts

Master's degrees in Arts, Science and Commerce, Engineering:

• Requires two years of full time study and after completion of bachelor's degree

Master of Philososphy (M.Phil.) in Humanities and Social Sciences:

• Length of study - 1-2 years

Doctoral Degree or Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D./ D.Phil) - 3-6 years

Degree-granting institutions

• Deemed Universities - is a status of autonomy is granted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development to institutions that have established exemplary standards in area such as teaching, educational administration and research. This may be considered as the first step to attain a full university status. (Example: Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Karnataka)
• Affiliating Universities - are large universities that administer and affiliate collegiate institutions that work under their aegis. These collegiate institutions are governed by a uniform lawas, structures, students and faculty recruitment policies as set out by the affiliating university. Delhi University has over 80 colleges affiliated to it that follow uniform laws, procedures, admission cycles, accreditation standards. (Other Examples: Pune University, Rajasthan University)
   
• Other Universities: 

• Central Universities - Funded by the Central Government (Examples: Aligarh Muslim University, Jawaharlal Nehru University)
• State Universites - Funded by the state government and/ or the UGC (Example: University of Delhi, University of Calcutta)
• (Example: Indian Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Management)
• Independent University - Specialized institutions funded by the Central Government (Example: Indian Institute of Technology)
• Open Universities - Central and State operated universities offering distance education (Example: Indira Gandhi National Open University, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University)
• Specialized Universities offering education in specialized fields of study (Examples: Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Gandhigram Rural University)

Indian Higher Education - Statistics
Literacy Rates* (%):

• Male - 82.14
• Female - 65.46
• Both - 74.04

Total Education Enrolments:

Source: 8th All India School Education Survey, UGC Annual Report 2010-11
 

Universities and Colleges:

• Universities in India - 573
• Total Colleges - 33, 023

Source: UGC Annual Report 2010-11; Prof. Ved Prakash, "Inclusive and qualitative expansion of higher education in India - 12th Five Year Plan 2012-2017" University Grants Commisssion (2010-2011)

Enrolment by Gender Higher Education:

• Male - 99.26 Million
• Female - 70.49 Million
• Total - 16. 97 Million

Enrolment by Stages - Higher Education:

• Undergraduate - 86.11%
• Postgraduate - 12.07%
• Diploma/ Certificate - 1.01%
• Research - 0.81%

Source: UGC Annual Report 2010-11