The writing on the wall is clear. It is only through major strides of collaboration betweenthe private sector and government agencies that we can even attempt at improving theabysmal figures of number of college going students, which stands at a mere 10 % of thetotal population, actually being able access higher education institutions.The tremendous infrastructure for higher education, that the Indian government has createdover the decades, is proving inadequate for the millions of young men and women who couldbe in colleges and institutions. This is despite the fact that India has over 400 universitiesand more than 20,000 colleges with an enrollment of 14 million students.The added dimension that needs to be addressed simultaneously along with creating betterand professional infrastructure is the need for increasing employability of graduates emergingout of the HEI’s. This is vital for sustainability as 80 % of graduates stepping out with degreesdo not have any professional skills. Thus an industry-institution interface has to be evolvedin tandem with resource and infrastructure generation.In this issue we touch on these issues and capture new ideas and research that look aheadto an inevitable era of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in education. The recent E&YFICCIreport on various aspects of PPP in education highlights the resource gaps andpossible solutions to them. It also talks about various partnership models possible with the
private sector.An interview with Prof Kesav Nori, one of the pioneers of Tata’s computer based literacyprogramme, throws light on the literacy aspect in India and challenges associated withrunning the programme on a massive scale in a country like India with its diversities anduniqueness.In the urban slums of India, a silent revolution has been taking place in the form of privateeducation. Project Gyana Shakti is one such initiative seeking to improve learning outcomesin the schoolgoing children in the slums of Hyderabad through various technological andpedagogical interventions.All this only enforces the belief that a collective effort on the part of industry and governmentis inevitable, if our country is to gain a foothold in the global knowledge workforce.
