Evaluation of Education Clusters in Indian Higher Education
Pawan Kumar
ACCMAN Business School, Greater Noida, India.
. Smita *
Sudarshan Foundation, Greater Noida, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Indian higher education system is undergoing a phase of transformation. The public sector is not able to meet the rising demand for higher education and the higher education system in now witnessing majority of enrolments in private institutions. The wide disparity in the quality of higher education provided by different Indians Universities and shortage of Universities from India scoring high rank on global benchmarks is a cause of concern. The paper evaluates Education clusters as a viable option to provide integrated solution for higher education, skill development, research, testing, support for entrepreneurship and foreign collaborations in India. The student community stands to gain from availability of internationally reputed institutions in the home country, industry stands to gain from development of research base, faculties may benefit by better salaries and working environment. The regulatory authorities need to adopt a progressive approach rather than license raj in the best interest of the skill development in the country. Hybrid education clusters offers opportunity of reforming Indian higher education. Blended learning is a feasible solution to optimize the education clusters and online teaching.
Keywords: Higher education, education clusters, blended learning, India