Higher Education: Reimagining the Future

This session will consider the future of the higher education system in India—one of the largest in the world. Affordable access to higher education has remained a pressing issue for our country with only 10.6% of the population aged above 15 years completing degree-level education. In order to bridge the gap, educationists are now exploring digital education as a viable future of higher education to leapfrog enrolment and graduation rates in the country. While traditional classroom learning cannot be replaced, it is crucial that innovative approaches are explored for quality education coverage. Furthermore, building India’s future higher education system calls for interventions such as infrastructure reforms, support, and training by the government, and collaboration between the private sector and academia. The session on higher education will advance discussion on how the future education systems help us to re-imagine the future of India. It would emphasize digital education as one of the factors that would shape higher education in the upcoming years. The session would also critically engage with the significance and challenges faced in carrying out higher education reforms in India.