India is one of the youngest nations of the world with an average age of 27.6 years; we have a large workforce of people and are the fastest growing economy of the world. The world is expected to face a skilled talent shortage of approximately 56 million by 2030. Skill Development and Higher Education therefore, are the focus points for growth in the country.
India has the third-largest higher educational system in the world. In 2016, there were 799 universities and 39,071 colleges spread across the country. Highly Educated Indians are working abroad. The system is second-largest in terms of enrolment; the Government of India is aggressively working towards increasing the number of enrolments in the country.
FICCI has been playing a proactive role in the Higher Education sector supported by the Higher Education Committee, comprising key representatives from leading Higher Education Institutions/Universities, Industry and the Government. Hence, the 14th Higher Education Summit, organised by FICCI was held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi to focus on the quality of education provided in the country. The 3-day event was scheduled from 30thOctober to 1st November, 2018 and brought forward all the cornerstones for growth of higher education programmes. Topics discussed ranged from financing of higher education, policies and roadmap towards growth of Human Resource to the combination of traditional and digital forms of learning & Artificial intelligence and University 4.0. The keynote address was by Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Industry and Commerce. While Prakash Javedhkar, Union Minister for Human Resource Development addressed the attendees at the inauguration of the summit. Some of the other eminent speakers at the summit were DR. Pankaj Mittal, Additional Secretary, University Grants Commission, Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog, Rashesh Shah, President, FICCI & Professor Tan Eng Chye, University of Singapore.
We need to have a structured dialogue and effort towards branding India,” said Dr Vidya Yeravdekar, Chairperson-FICCI HE Committee
More than 200 exhibitors from top of the line institutions welcomed the opportunity to showcase best practices to the global participants at the summit. The exhibitors included national and international higher educational institutes, EdTech companies, technology corporations and other service providers. Engagement of participants and knowledge sharing was ensured through: A master class on ‘Building Institutions of Eminence: Measuring University Excellence’ was organised with Ritin Malhotra, Regional Director-South Asia, Times Higher Education as the speaker for the session. Workshop on ‘Blockchain Technologies’ by Symbiosis Skills University. Pre-show master classes were also held on 29th October, 2018 on topics like Blended Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics.
Reverse Buyer Seller Meet (RBSM), B2B Meetings and CEO Roundtable.
5th FICCI Higher Education Excellence Awards.
The event saw a participation of over 1500 visitors. Hosted foreign delegates were invited from regions like Africa, CIS countries, Middle East and Asia (including SAARC). Therefore, there were 300+ delegates from more than 65 countries. The “Study in India” program recently launched by the government is a great strategic move to attract talented foreign students to study in India. The summit initiated increased visibility of ‘Brand India’ in the global market. The event was supported by both public and private bodies like Ministry of Human Resource Development & Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, India Services Education, AJCTE & Services Export Promotion Council.
