Higher Education

Higher education in India has evolved in distinct and divergent streams with each stream monitored by an apex body, indirectly controlled by the Ministry of Human Resource Development and funded by the state governments. Most universities are administered by the States, however, there are 18 important universities called Central Universities, which are maintained by the Union Government. The increased funding of the central universities give them an advantage over state competitors.

The state of Indian higher education is indeed grim. There are no Indian universities among top 300 in the world as per the first global league table Academic Ranking of World Universities produced by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The Indian Institutes of Technology were placed 50th in the world and 2nd in the field of Engineering (next only to MIT) by Times Higher World University Rankings There are several thousands colleges in India, Which provides technical education. The Indian Technical Education are very strong these days. They are producing millions of engineers every year. But, these statistics are problematic because car mechanics and radio repairmen also get classified as engineers.

International league tables produced in 2006 by the London-based Times Higher Education Supplement(THES) confirmed Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)'s place among the world's top 200 universities . Likewise, THES 2006 ranked JNU's School of Social Sciences at the 57th position among the world's top 100 institutes for social sciences.

The National Law School of India University is highly regarded, with some of its students being awarded Rhodes Scholarships to Oxford University, and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences is consistently rated the top medical school in the country^{[citation needed]}. Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are the top management institutes in India.^{[citation needed]}

The private sector is strong in Indian higher education. This has been partly as a result of the decision by the Government to divert spending to the goal of universalisation of elementary education. Within a decade different state assemblies has passed bills for private universities, and some of these universities are performing very well these universities includes Gyanvihar university, Amity university, Rai university and many more.

SC/STs and OBCs

The Government has reserved seats for SC/STs in all areas of education. Special scholarships and other incentives are provided for SC/ST candidates. Many State Governments have completely waived fees for SC/ST students. The IITs have a special coaching program for the SC/ST candidates who fail in the entrance exams marginally. Seats have been reserved for candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes as well in some states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The struggle for reserving seats for students from OBC categories in elite institutions like IITs, IIMs and AIIMS and Central Universities is still going on. The Supreme Court of India is obstructing this reservation for the reason that there has been no caste-wise census since 1931 and the population share of OBCs cannot be based on 1931 census. The Department for the Welfare of SC/ST/OBC/Minorities introduced the SC/ST tuition-fee reimbursement scheme in 2003-2004. The scheme applies to SC and ST students of Delhi who are enrolled in recognized unaided private schools and who have an annual family income of less than Rs. 1 lakh. It provides a 100% reimbursement of the tuition fees, sports fee, science fee, lab fee, admission fee and the co-curricular fee if the student's family income falls below Rs. 48, 000 per annum and a reimbursement of 75% if the family income is greater than Rs. 48, 000 per annum but less than Rs. 1 lakh. The subsidy provided by the scheme covers between 85% and 90% of the beneficiary's total running expenses in studying in a private school.

Expenditure on Education in India

The Government expenditure on Education has greatly increased since the First five-year plan. The Government of India has highly subsidized higher education. Nearly 97% of the Central Government expenditure on elementary education goes towards the payment of teachers' salaries.

Non-Formal Education

In 1979-80, the Government of India, Department of Education launched a program of Non-Formal Education (NFE) for children of 6-14 years age group, who cannot join regular schools. These children include school drop-outs, working children, children from areas without easy access to schools etc. The initial focus of the scheme was on ten educationally backward states. Later, it was extended to urban slums as well as hilly, tribal and desert areas in other states. The program is now functional in 25 states/UTs. 100% assistance is given to voluntary organizations for running NFE centers.

Education in India

india has been a major seat of learning for thousands of years, dating back to ancient seats of learning like Nalanda. In modern times, Indian educational institutions such as the (IITs, IISc, IIMs, NITs,AIIMS, ISI, BITS and ISB) are well known worldwide. India, being a developing nation, struggles with challenges in its primary education and strives to reach 100% literacy. Universal Compulsory Primary Education, with its challenges of keeping poor children in school and maintaining quality of education in rural areas, has been difficult to achieve (Kerala is an Indian state to reach this goal so far). All levels of education in India, from primary to higher education, are overseen by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (Department of Higher Education (India) and Department of School Education and Literacy), and heavily subsidized by the Indian government, though there is a move to make higher education partially self-financing. The Indian Government is considering to allow 100% foreign direct investment in Higher Education