MP Sudhanshu Trivedi inaugurating the conference in the presence of T.G. Sitharam, AICTE Chairman, G. Viswanathan, Founder-Chancellor, VIT, and G.V. Selvam, vice-president, VIT, on Saturday
| Photo Credit: R. Ravindran
India should improve the capacity to enrol more students in higher education by increasing the number of universities and teachers as a large number of students are expected to attend higher education, said AICTE chairman T.G. Sitharam.
Speaking at the two-day national conference on road map to VIKSIT Bharat – a multi- disciplinary approach, Prof. Sitharam said: “From 2001 to 2025, we reached from Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) 11% to 29% in higher education. As per New Education Policy (NEP), we want to grow 50% GER by 2025. That means we want to grow 21% in ten years. This is the biggest challenge for us. How many universities are required? How many teachers are required? Every youth has to have access to quality education,” he said.
Pointing to successful efforts taken to improve GER in elementary education before 2015, Prof. Sitharam said: “As you know, in 2015, we reached GER 94% in elementary education. That means 26.5 crore students are in school education. Two crore students are going to come to higher education every year. We have only the capacity to absorb them at 30% GER.”
Stressing the need for holistic transformation of higher education, he said the National Education Policy 2020 marked a watershed moment. “The future workforce is shaped not in the classrooms, but beyond the classrooms. Enable students to go beyond textbooks and beyond classrooms. Industries need to invest in education. They should come to universities to start teaching and engaging with student,” he said.
Member of Parliament Sudhanshu Trivedi, VIT Founder Chancellor G.Viswanathan and VIT vice president G.V.Selvam spoke.
Published – July 27, 2025 03:43 am IST
