CII proposes FDI in higher education

Updated on: Friday, December 23, 2011

The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) will be submitting a proposal to the Union government laying stress on the need for foreign direct investment in higher education.

Nandini. R, chairperson (education forum), CII (southern region) and founder trustee, GRG trust, said at a conference organised by CII on Thursady that it would present a paper about foreign direct investment in higher education to the Union government.

“Our national committee on education is preparing the document. As education institutions are now administered by trusts they need to form a section 25 company to attract FDI. Once the document is
prepared we will have more details on it,” she said.

Mr N. Chandrasekaran, chair (education panel-higher and technical education), CII-Tamil Nadu, said that government should introduce differential fees structure for colleges as some might be better than others.

Higher education minister P. Palaniappan said plans were afoot in strengthening open and distance learning to resolve the question of quantity and quality in higher education.

He pointed out that only 12.4 per cent of the youth in the age group of 18-23 have enrolled in higher education. “We should aim at achieving 47 per cent as reached in developed countries,” he said.
Ms Thangam Meganathan, chairperson, Rajalakshmi engineering college, said that higher education should get relieved from regulatory authorities to achieve higher gross enrolment ratio. She noted that as long as a college does not improve its quality it cannot sustain in the present global economic situation.

CII proposes FDI in higher education

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