India is among the youngest countries in the world, with every third person being a youth. This young population is the reason why economists and policy leaders are optimistic about India’s future, and youth is expected to drive the country forward.
Though India set up centers of excellence after independence to nurture its young, their rising numbers surpassed the seats available in these institutes. The situation now is such that only those with more than 90 percent can hope to get an admission in the premier colleges. The solution to this, as proposed by educationists, is allowing private players to set up Private or Deemed Universities.
It is only in the last ten years that the sector has attracted significant capital. In fact, the Indian educational landscape today is dotted with Private Universities, many having achieved acclaim for raising the bar for educational standards.
The journey cannot be completed without the inevitable support from the Private and Deemed Universities. Equipped with the global best practices, technology-enabled pedagogy and linkages with the industry, Private Universities have the potential to take the Indian higher education system to new heights.
With this background, we have come up with a special edition on Private Universities. This issue highlights the viewpoints of Vice Chancellors and Chairman of various Private Universities on the key issues plaguing the education sector and the opportunities to address these. The issue also carries a special feature on new IITs and a course curriculum on Fashion Designing.
We are also proud to announce the fourth edition of World Education Summit (WES) 2014 (http://wes.eletsonline.com/), scheduled for August 2014, New Delhi. This will carry forward the incredible success of the 2013 Summit. This year, the Summit will highlight innovations and best practices in the education sector. The Summit will gather together ministers, policy makers of education from various countries, stakeholders from civil society organisations, educationists, academia, corporate houses, international and national developmental organizations, donor agencies and decision-makers from the education industry. It will aim at enriching global efforts towards an inclusive education and analyzing the role of governments in the development and implementation of education policies.
We hope to have you at this year’s WES, where education leaders from around the globe are expected to gather. The conferences, exhibition, workshops and the award ceremony at the WES will provide a wonderful opportunity to stakeholders in the field of education, all over the world, to create opportunities of progress at all levels, namely – global, national, and regional.
I invite all to join in this platform and be a part of the resurgence in the education sector.
