Prof Ronald J Daniels laid emphasis on the need to promote quality education for youths

Updated on: Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Addressing a lecture on "Frontiers of Higher Education: Access, Quality and Innovation in India and the United States", he said the disparities in access to quality post-secondary education were evident in both the US and India.

"The trend, depicted in 70 per cent people not having a college degree, are closely related to the decline and eventual halt in the growth of educational attainment and the withdrawal of state investment in colleges and universities," he said.

Prof Daniels said that in the US, student debt is roughly one trillion dollars, or one-sixteenth of the total debt of the country.

"One can see the same trends in India, where funding to support students from poor backgrounds in accessing higher education is nearly absent," he said.

He noted that the government support for research in both the US and India had declined in real terms over the last decade.

"There has been a 26 per cent reduction in funding for higher education in the US and additional serious budget cuts loom on the horizon.

At the very least, public funding is unlikely to return to previous levels, particularly as other costs such as health care continues to rise," he said.

The P D Agarwal memorial lecture was organised here by Bhoruka Charitable Trust and Institute of Health Management Research.

Prof Ronald J Daniels laid emphasis on the need to promote quality education for youths

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