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PhD Admissions: Eligibility Criteria,2024

PhD Admissions: Eligibility Criteria,2024

Updated on 20 March, 2024

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• 11 min read

Numerous professionals, after accruing practical work experience, deliberate on advancing their academic qualifications to catalyze professional development. This strategic decision is often motivated by the prospect of professional advancement and the potential for securing lucrative remuneration packages. Among the various advanced degrees, the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) emerges as a preferred choice for individuals aiming to deepen their expertise in a specific domain. Attaining a PhD not only facilitates entry into academia as a faculty member but also equips individuals for roles such as research analysts or entrepreneurs, amongst other distinguished career pathways. I have dedicated this article to elucidating the intricacies of PhD admission, providing a comprehensive guide to navigating the prerequisites and preparations essential for enrollment in esteemed programs, such as the Doctor of Business Administration at GGU, thereby empowering candidates to meticulously prepare for their academic journey ahead.

Preparing for a PhD

Enrolling into a doctorate program is not an easy task. It takes thorough research to understand the scope and professional benefits. Moreover, you would have to learn about the eligibility criteria you should qualify to get admission into the Doctorate of Business Administration from RBS. You should know how a Ph.D. program can help you inch closer to your career goals and which research area would be right for you. Here are a few things you can do to prepare for your PhD enrolment.

If you also plan to complete a doctorate soon, you must score well in your post-graduation. It will open doors for enrolment into a renowned school.
Choose the area of research well in advance so that you know your target colleges. It will help save you time as you only must explore selected options.
If you are a working professional, plan things in advance as you must dedicate time and effort to PhD admission in 2024 and complete the course. Not planning anything before will put you in chaos, and you might not be able to reap the desired benefits.

Understand that a doctorate in any domain is a course that needs utmost dedication. So, if you want to avail yourself of all of its benefits, you have to start preparing yourself in terms of qualifications, time management, and more before applying.

Choosing a Research Area

Another important aspect of qualifying for PhD eligibility is to choose the research area of your interest. For a management professional, a doctorate degree is available in business analysis, financial management, and more. Interestingly, somebody working in the financial domain does not necessarily have to opt for a PhD in finance. You can choose an entirely different subject in your field and turn it into a successful career switch. Hence, you would have to dig deeper and get clarity about the area in which you want to do your doctorate degree. Two things you should keep in consideration while making this decision are:

Aligning with Interests

It is significant that you have an interest in your chosen research area. You shouldn’t pick the research area based on availability or popularity. Do your research, explore the available options, and select the one that interests you the most. Understand that your area of interest might not be highly in demand, but your zeal to excel in it will help build a promising career.

Assessing Opportunities

Make sure you check the future possibilities of the research area you pick. There is no point in doing a doctorate if it won’t help you grow professionally and get you a handsome salary. So, it is fruitful to do thorough market research before your Ph.D. admission and choose the domain only after careful analysis.

Selecting the Right University

Once you have clarity about your area of research, the next step is to select the right university. You will find countless universities offering online and offline PhD courses. However, not all these universities have global recognition and ample opportunities for professional growth. It would be useless to complete your PhD program from any such university. Hence, this decision should be taken with the utmost care after doing the required research. A few tips for selecting the right university are:

Check the university recognition to ensure your doctorate degree will have global validation. Most universities, especially those offering online programs, lag in this area, so check before you choose.
I would also advise you to check how the university vision aligns with your research ideas. Ensure they offer the right opportunities and resources to carry out your research. You can talk to the admission coordinators for detailed information.
You should verify the market reputation of the university before enrolling in the PhD program. Check the ratings and reviews on different authority websites to ensure people have good things to say about the university.
Lastly, check the personal factors, like the number of hours you would dedicate to learning to earn a PhD.

All these factors together will give you clarity about choosing the right university during the latest PhD admission.

Understanding Admission Requirements

A few universities would only ask for an application, which they will review before approving your admission into a PhD program. However, there are a few where you will get enrolled only after clearing your entrance exam. So, you should check and understand the admission requirements thoroughly before applying anywhere. The two most common admission requirements for most universities are listed below.

Academic Credentials

A postgraduate degree in the same domain is required every time you wish to apply for a PhD program, irrespective of the university you choose. Some universities may allow students with an equivalent qualification to apply for the PhD program.

You should have a minimum of 50% marks in post-graduation to apply for the doctorate program. Some universities may increase the minimum percentage to 60%.
Some universities demand minimum marks in specific subjects, mostly the ones in which you want to do the research. So, you are required to qualify for the overall minimum mark requirement and the required marks in the specific subject. Check the eligibility terms carefully to verify these terms.
You must clear the PhD entrance exam to get enrolled in a renowned university. The higher your rank in the entrance exam, the better the chances of successful admission to one of the prestigious universities.

Research Proposal

When you check the entire admission process, you will find submitting your research proposal to be a significant part. It is a proposal that the candidate has to submit to get admission into the executive doctor of business administration from SSBM and other universities. The review committee checks these proposals and decides which candidates will be admitted into the Ph.D. program. So, as your admission to your preferred college depends on this research proposal, you would have to prepare it after thorough research and with utmost perfection. Some of the tips you can follow to build your research proposal are:

Identify the research question and stick to it throughout your research proposal.
Review the literature and verify every fact you state in the proposal.
Make sure you mention a timeline and budget in your proposal, so the review committee has an idea about your plans.

Follow these steps and focus on the two factors listed above to fulfill the admission requirements and get enrolled in a Ph.D. program.

Preparing a Strong Application

Your application is the primary criterion to qualify the eligibility for PhD in education. It is the first step to booking your spot at your preferred university and a pass to sail through the competition and complete your doctorate degree. A few tips to build a strong application are listed below.

Showcasing Achievements

Your application is the mode through which the admission committee will learn about your abilities. Thus, you must showcase your achievements in it. Make sure anyone checking your application gets a clear idea about what you have achieved in the past and decide if you can qualify for the eligibility and enroll in the Ph.D. program. You can list your academic achievements, any co-curricular activities you have planned, conducted, or performed, and the projects you have handled previously. These projects do not have to be related to the research; they can be anything that gives an idea about your abilities.

Emphasizing Research Experience

Another tip is to emphasize any research experience you have in your application. It gives more strength to your application and gives an indication that you have hands-on experience in research. Moreover, it also signifies that you can handle the research work and contribute to society by doing valuable research. Make sure you mention all your research experience in an easy-to-understand tabular form. This way, even a quick glance at your application will give the review committee the assurance to approve your enrolment. If your experiences are worth it, you can rest assured that your spot is safe.

Test Preparation Strategies

For universities completing PhD admission solely on the basis of ranks in the entrance exam, you have to prepare well and nail the exam. You would have to start your preparation well before time and work with utmost dedication to crack the exam. Some of the strategies that can help you get PhD admission are:

Prepare a note of the syllabus you are supposed to cover before appearing for the exam and categorize them into slots priority-wise.
Go through all the concepts from the basic level and then move on to the complexities. Make sure you grasp everything, and your fundamentals are clear.
Opt for some mock tests to get clarity about the entrance exam format. It will fill you with confidence and increase your chances of cracking the exam.

Application Process

We have discussed about PhD entrance exam eligibility for national and foreign universities. Now, let us discuss the entire process of getting enrolled from start to finish. I will list a step-by-step process that you can follow and start your doctorate.

Step1: Get Clarity

It is a crucial business decision, so you require the utmost clarity about the scope of a Ph.D. program and how it can help you with career growth. So, the first step is to do your research and have a clear vision about your purpose of doing the doctorate.

Step2: Plan Everything

The next step in the process is to sort out all the requirements and take notes of everything you need to do. For example, plan things like when you want to apply for the exam, how to prepare your application, and what preparation strategies you will use.

Step3: File the Application

The actual admission process to fulfill the eligibility for a Ph.D. in foreign universities starts with application filing. Use the tips I have listed above to prepare a strong application and ensure you submit it well within the timelines.

Step4: Interviews

Once you have cleared the exam and your application has been approved, the next step is to sit for interviews. It is your first opportunity to communicate and share your research objectives with the admission committee.

Step5: Final Enrolment

The last step is to finalize the college where you qualify for PhD eligibility, submit the necessary documents, and start your doctorate program. Most universities follow This admission process, and every PhD enthusiast would have to follow it.

Interviews and Selection

When you plan to do Doctorate of Business Administration from the Paris School of Management, you would have to prepare for a stringent selection process. There are plenty of other schools that make it mandatory to pass the interview before final enrolment. These interviews are a significant and one of the most challenging parts of the admission process. You cannot define a standard PhD interview as it varies for different schools. Some might make it a panel discussion where you will face a rigorous question-answer session. However, some universities might conduct a regular coffee table meeting to understand your endeavors and decide what kind of research program you should participate in. The probable scenarios of interviews for PhD selection are:

A presentation showcasing your research idea to decide your final enrolment. It is crucial to showcase all your strengths through this presentation.
A formal question-answer session in front of a panel where you answer questions related to the subject or research topic.
A meeting with your research guide to see if he has the right kind of projects to align with your vision.
Have a one-to-one discussion with your research guide to ensure that you are on the same page.

The primary idea of the interviews as a selection process is that every research enthusiast gets enrolled in the right program and under the guidance of the right expert.

Funding Opportunities

PhD is a high-in-demand course because funding opportunities keep them financially stable while they study. The most common funding opportunity is to make scholarship options available.

Scholarships and Fellowships

Once you qualify for the scholarship exam, you get government funding to continue your research and the scholarship for financial stability. If you aim to avail yourself of the benefits of these fellowships, gather all the information regarding the possibilities. Generally, an entrance exam is required to attain funding through a fellowship program. So, prepare well and make your doctorate fruitful not only in learning but in terms of financial stability as well.

Conclusion

A Ph.D. is a higher-level learning program that opens the door to endless opportunities in your professional career. After completing the doctorate, you can be in the industry as an entrepreneur, management professional, or a trainer or teacher who imparts that knowledge to other enthusiasts. Moreover, your salary and job security grow exponentially upon completing the Ph.D. Thus, it is fair to say that a doctorate is one of the promising options for any candidate to report career growth. You only have to choose the right research area and a university that has global recognition. Work dedicatedly towards learning and experience the excellent push it will give your professional career.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is the fee structure of PhD?

Before starting a PhD, students should look at their options based on what research support they can get, who will guide their research, and how much it will cost. Private colleges usually ask for about INR 1 lakh each year, but government colleges are cheaper, with fees ranging from INR 20,000 to 30,000 a year for a PhD.

2. How can I get PhD admission?

Admissions for PhD programs are based on national level Research Entrance Tests or University-level Entrance Exams. After these exams, candidates go through a personal interview where they present their research proposal. A PhD can be a three-year course if done full-time or a six-year course if done part-time.

3. Is it hard to get a PhD?

Getting your PhD is definitely worth it, but it's a tough journey. It's hard, takes a lot of time, and can be really frustrating at times.

Did you find this article helpful?

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7 reasons to watch UpGrad Talks today

There is really no secret sauce for success. Provided you have had the opportunity to view the exclusive online tete-e-tete sessions brought to you by UpGrad Talks. With an amazing roster of world-class speakers, some from the top 1000 companies of India such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Sky, Coca Cola, JP Morgan, JWT to start-up poster children such as RedBus, Snadeal, Ola & Zivame and many more, Upgrad Talks provides insights into their formulae for success. The talks also share deep learning from situations that didn’t work out and many valuable nuggets of honest, down-to-earth and practical advice from successful entrepreneurs, experts and industry leaders. While some lip service has been paid to new-age technologies and skill sets, and the evolution of industries because of these, a deeper understanding of what this signifies is missing. Upgrad Talks intends to fill this gap by bringing together thought-leaders from different walks of life and raising the level of discourse in this area, as they share their experiences. Here are the top reasons why you must visit talks.upgrad.com today and make it your daily source of insights and motivation: Get Inspired Inspiration can come from many different sources. You may get inspired when you see a problem that needs a solution, which you are able to ideate, or get inspired when you hear stories of adversity being overcome by sheer willpower. Rarely does the simple existence of wealth inspire us. It may motivate us to work harder, but inspiration stems from a deeper place that needs real stories. Upgrad Talks are stories from the folks who have lived these stories, first hand. Not only does hearing someone’s complete story of challenges, thought process and subsequent outcome inspire, it also gives birth to new ideas and provides impetus to grow in your own space. Moreover, inspiration also stems from well-put statements such as, ‘attitude will sail you through,’ by Harit Nagpal, CEO of Tata Sky. A key benefit of listening to industry leaders is that it also inspires us to think. ‘What we think, we become,’ is a quote by Buddha that sums up this well. Go ahead, face challenges It does not matter if you are a startup or an established financial organization; challenges, big or small, exist in every level of most businesses. Challenges faced, strategized and overcome is the rite of passage for almost everyone. Not only do Upgrad Talks cover challenges faced by leading industry veterans, it also covers it from various stages of businesses along with discussion of the solutions that helped overcome them. Upgrad Talks speakers’ discuss challenges faced by businesses in different spaces, which makes these talks an interesting listen. Furthermore, is quite motivating to hear the candid conversations of business leaders. So what is the common thought on challenges in the Upgrad Talks? No challenge is too big. It also strengthens the belief that challenges help you grow and become stronger and develops a sense of confidence to take on the next big challenge. Learn from influencers People who can motivate are great influencers. To hear success stories at Upgrad Talks, which have been driven by deep-rooted passion as well as courage of conviction can be a great influence on most people. It is likely to help you push yourself to greater heights and also follow your dreams a bit more diligently. To quote Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl, ‘ there is a fine line between stubbornness and persistence.’ Upgrad Talks is likely to help you define the lines as an excellent selection of influencers talk also about the key soft skills required to make it a significant mark on the industry that you belong to. Mentoring As you listen to entrepreneurs, business leaders and experts on models that have worked, one can also start drawing parallels to one’s one business or profession. Mentoring of this kind is both subtle and effective as it helps you choose some key takeaways from the shared experiences that are most relevant to you. Follow the series to get premium access to the best mentors in the country as they talk about education, the emerging digital age and its impact on businesses, talent shortages and advice to youngsters. A bit of crystal gazing In the series of Upgrad Talks, one is likely to come across a vast amount of business knowledge which has been converted into digestible insights that can also help you choose the next steps in your career. Speakers’ at Upgrad Talks share their business mantras and what the future is likely to be. This is crystal gazing of the finest variety and yet another reason to tune into the talks. A healthy dash of optimism One of the unique selling points of the Upgrad Talks is that they also brings out the combined optimism in business from key industry leaders. Apart from that one can learn what is next in the industry, and explore potential future opportunities in the workspace. The upbeat and positive nature of these talks makes them a must-listen. Easily available online Just in case you were wondering how far you would need to travel to listen to such a wide range of speakers, you can breath easy. Upgrad Talks are delivered online and you can listen to them at your own convenience. All you need to do is to long onto talks.upgrad.com and you can access high quality, pre-recorded sessions online. Upgrad is making content richer, bigger and better as it kicks off with 15+ talks delivered by entrepreneurs, experts & business leaders. You definitely do not want to miss out on the educational transformation that UpGrad is fuelling in partnership with some of the greatest minds. Remember, one can never stop learning. So, if you always aspired to hear great advice and insights from the top Indian business leaders on how you can grow your business, choose a career goal or get inspired, do take a look at Upgrad Talks. They are truly the voices that impact. Join us today and be a part of it at talks.upgrad.com.

by Omkar Pradhan

06 Aug'16

5.37K+

Evolving online education: Learning Together

Technologies in online learning have been making promises since early 20th century. From radio to present day MOOCs, multiple new technologies were seen as silver bullet in revolutionising education. These promises were indeed laudable, to make education accessible to everyone, affordable for everyone and more effective. Yet, the same history of unmet expectations has been repeated every time*. Although a lot has happened over the past decade in terms of growth and expansion of online education, there are many challenges yet to be solved before we can say online learning has truly arrived. We, at UpGrad, believe the following three challenges are the biggest hurdles to the success of online education. Isolation: Online learning is solitary experience Acceptability: Online learning’s validity in the Job Market Not Engaging: Interplay of distractions and motivations in learning online The dismally low completion rates and high failure rates are reflection of these challenges [1]. Our goal at UpGrad is to fight these challenges and provide an unmatched learning experience for the working professionals. We believe, with the flexibility of online learning, every working professional can “UpGrade” himself without going back to full-time formal education. Hence, we need to to make online learning mainstream. In this article we would be sharing how are setting the online learning as a ‘Social Experience’ for our students, ie the first of the three mentioned challenges. In 2000s, internet surfing was mainly an individual experience and on the other hand, in 2016 almost all of internet time is a social experience. We do not feel alone in 2016 version of internet. We believe online education will have much higher engagement and completion rates once it becomes a social experience. An average student’s e-learning journey is an individual experience making him/her feel isolated. Learners move through the course with limited interactions with both their instructor and classmates. We at UpGrad, are building a new learning platform specifically designed keeping our students and their needs in mind. We believe this would be key to provide the kind of engagement levels the students deserve. The perception of social presence (or lack of) is a big concern among students and teachers in online learning. Teachers develop courses in isolation and the students take the courses in isolation. Researchers have found strong correlation between the sense of social presence facilitated by the course and student’s perceived learning [3,4,5]. Also there is good re correlation between withdrawal in the course and student’s perceived lack of social interaction and instructor presence [3]. Lack of social interaction in e-learning increases the distraction, since a learner would look for social interaction elsewhere which is usually Twitter, Whatsapp or Facebook. If there is another learner doing the same course in my apartment building, there are limited chances that I would know about him. As learners of online courses, we are oblivious of everyone else’s presence except few replies on the discussion forum. They do form Facebook groups or Whatsapp groups organically, yet the whole online learning format ends up being mostly a solo experience. Here are the steps we are taking at UpGrad in making our online programs a social experience.: Profiles : The first step in ‘social’ e-learning is knowing your classmates. We have learner profiles with education and work history along with other details. Almost everyone is encouraged to fill in their full profile along with a descriptive ‘bio’ section. There are multiple points where learners are nudged to click on the profiles. To improve discoverability of relevant profiles we not only leverage cohort social graph but also use interest graph, performance graph, complementary skills graphs. Combined with other semi random** algorithms like who was recently online, learners bump into each other in interesting ways. In the first month of Data Analytics Program, an average engaged learner viewed peer profiles 110 times. Discussions: We have a discussion forum which is contextual and relevant to the course content. We designed it from the ground up to involve learners during the course. They help each other, solve doubts, ask questions, have healthy debates on the forum. Only when there is no consensus a Teaching Assistant gets involved in clearing the doubts. Last 3 months data shows that on a daily basis 50% of the students who are engaged on the platform, also engaged actively on the discussion forum. As most professionals have different backgrounds, sharing of experiences on the forum is much valuable to everyone in the cohort. We have seen learners fall into three buckets on the forum. First is the majority producers, the top 30% of forum content producers are responsible for around 70% of the discussions. The next 50% do the rest of 30% of the content but continue to voice their opinions through upvotes. Rest of the 20% are mere observers. These numbers are highly encouraging and we will be investing more time in finding out how student-student social interactions can help in overall engagement. Figure 1: Forum topic distribution in one of our programs. Share in the pie is (questions * votes) for each topic. Bigger share of the pie is a proxy for doubts. This lead us to start live sessions on those topics. Thought Leader AMAs: Initiating and maintaining engagement on the forum is hard. To set the ball rolling, we started the discussion forum for a new cohort with getting a thought leader to do an AMA on the platform. This way not only the students got a product onboarding experience but also the social expectation was set amongst the peers. In some months, the total content creation during AMAs ended up around 20% of the total cumulative content. We also observed a side benefit of starting the program with thought leader – that learners are more helpful, behave with more civility and show much more respect for each other. This is not very unusual because it is known that a group’s eventual social dynamics are very much impacted by behaviour in initial few days. In a way, it sets the trend which follows upto the end of the course. We also explored bringing in external motivations to see how does it impact on engagement levels. At times, there were small gifts for top forum contributors and at times we included forum participation in the grading. Our primary observations show that this is to be used cautiously. We are working on establishing a balance between extrinsic and intrinsic motivations for social involvement. Facebook Groups: For all cohorts we have Facebook groups for students apart from the platform discussion forum. We were not very confident how much our forum will be used for non academic discussions and generic social sharing. However, we found more and more discussions of generic nature and sharing of articles & blogs also started happening on the forum. Hence facebook group ended up becoming redundant. We are thinking of doing away with a cohort’s facebook group with this expanded use of discussion forum In summary, having a strong sense of community within the students is a big predictor of learning outcomes. This has been researched multiple times [7, 8]. Our platform’s usage data of course progress and social interaction activity strongly confirms this research. At a time, a learner who is socially engaged on our platform has usually completed 4 times (Figure 2) course materials than a learner who does not participate in social discussions. This high correlation has been repeated across multiple cohorts. Figure 2: At a snapshot of time course completion rates for learners active on forum vs non active. Apart from the student isolation e-learning content creators and facilitators tend to work in isolation, reflecting and sharing of best practices is minimal[6]. We at UpGrad are aware of this problem, and making sure different program teams collaborate and share solutions to common problems. We do not have complete solution to isolation in learning yet. We as a company are focussed on solving this problem, we are testing out few ideas and are willing to share the results with the community. With these changes we are expecting online learning experience to be more engaging, more involving and eventually pushing up the low completion rates of online learning. These are early days of online education and we have miles to go. Bibliography [1] http://collegequarterly.ca/2007-vol10-num03-summer/rolfe.html [2] Online Social Networks as Formal Learning Environments: Learner Experiences and Activities, The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, Vol 13, No 1 (2012) [3] Tello SF (2007). An analysis of student persistence in online education. International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Education [4] Herbert, M. (2006). Staying the course: A study in online student satisfaction and retention. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 9(4). [5] Morris, T. A. (2009). Anytime/anywhere online learning: Does it remove barriers for adult learners. In T.Kidd (Ed.), Online education and adult learning: New frontiers for teaching practices. Hershey, PA:IGI Global. [6] Duncan, H & Barnett J (2009) Learning to teach online. [7] Kaulback, B (2015). Learning Together : Community and Network from the perspective of designers of online learning. (Doctoral dissertation) [8] Bernard, R. M., Abrami, P. C., Borokhovski, E., Wade, C. A., Tamim, R. M., Surkes, M. A., & Bethel, E. C. (2009). A meta-analysis of three types of interaction treatments in distance education. Review of Educational Research, 79(3), 1243–1289.

by Ankit Mittal

08 Aug'16

898.95K+

Skill deprivation: Education alone won’t guarantee a job, in-demand skills need of hour

If you are 25 years old, hold a degree in a traditional arts discipline from a well-regarded institute and are looking for a job, you may not be handed one on a platter any time soon. You may be cushioned within the famous Indian demographic that is supposed to yield a ‘dividend,’ but unlike what you’ve been reading everywhere, this does not guarantee you employment. Between 1980 to 2010, 90% of world labour force growth occurred in developing countries and about 500 million new workers emerged in India and China alone (workers went from 260 million to 470 million in India, between this period). India is all set to power most of global growth in labour in the coming years. Enrolment in Indian higher education is 24% right now. With India attaining almost universal elementary education, and increased retention in secondary schools, the projected demand for higher education and jobs will only escalate. India has finally been placed on the world map with a solid advantage where labour supply is concerned. Impacting Education: My Journey and UpGrad It’s not all good news though. Indian millennials are being touted as the future of jobs and the saviours of the working world. But this won’t hold true if in-demand skills are not imparted to the youth entering the workforce. The world of work is changing and industries are transforming. It’s a fact that we are moving towards a massive labour pool, but we are possibly riding a low-skill, low-wage cycle to get there. The country is on a trajectory that involves a surplus of millions of low-skill workers, whereas most nations, including India, will be demanding high-skill workers more and more. Most industries are replacing low-skill jobs with high-skill ones. Skills relating to upcoming technologies in advanced areas – think AI, robotics, data science and mining – are gaining immense relevance. Unfortunately, our education system is not preparing students well enough to enter the workforce as high-skill workers nor equipping them with skills in emerging domains. Curricula is outdated and pedagogy poorly-developed. Gone are the days when just holding a graduate degree was enough to get employers to clamour to hire you. Education is not enough. The new-age job-seeker must strive to acquire specific skill sets to be considered employable (currently only 43% of Indian youth are considered fully employable). This applies to all sectors of the economy, as most industries and businesses are adopting new-age technologies and going digital within most functions. There’ll Be A Billion-Plus Job-Seekers By 2050! The positive connotation associated with our demographic shift has been taken for granted and assigned the term ‘dividend.’ But if we don’t strategically harness this change, we could easily be faced with a demographic disaster. We don’t want to be stuck in a situation where we have too many job-seekers with inadequate skills, and therefore not enough jobs for them. India is moving workers out of farm jobs at a very fast rate, and this will only add to the burden of providing jobs in other sectors. Realising this, even the government has begun focusing on skill development and training. Creating an entirely new Ministry and launching the Skill India Mission are clear indications of this. Another sign that skill training is gaining momentum is reflected in the growth of the Indian education and skills industry at an average rate of 13% over four years. From Rs 1.21 trillion in 2008 to Rs 2.35 trillion in 2012. However, these measures have not been enough to successfully skill India’s young. Only 2% of the Indian workforce has received some kind of formal skills training so far, and 8% have received informal training. Comparatively, 47% of China’s workforce is skill trained, 52% in USA, 68% in UK, 75% in Germany, 80% in Japan and 96% in South Korea. Almost half of Indian employers find it difficult to fill jobs and a similar proportion of employed youth suffer from some degree of skill deprivation. By 2050, India will be home to more than a billion jobseekers. This means providing jobs for over 12 million new entrants annually. There is also the challenge of finding jobs for the backlog, which reached 60 million by 2014. The pace of accretion to the labour market will keep increasing, given our demographic profile and declining age-dependency ratio. Our working age population (15-64 years) will peak in 2050 and till then pressures for jobs will only become worse. We need a wake-up call and more concerted efforts towards large-scale skill development and training. We may have a situation of too few high-skill workers and not enough jobs for medium or low-skill workers. This needs to be rectified by adjusting the education and skilling system to ready ourselves for the jobs of tomorrow. Article Source: http://www.firstpost.com/business/skill-deprivation-education-alone-wont-guarantee-a-job-in-demand-skills-need-of-hour-3020568.html

by Apoorva Shankar

08 Nov'16

5.13K+

Why The Growth Of Higher Education In India Hinges On The Private Sector

For the sake of simplicity, let’s say that the public sector’s role in education can be identified as a three-fold one. Firstly, it is tasked with universalizing access to education. Its next responsibility would be to regulate the sector and finally, to ensure quality education for all. In the context of the access provider role, estimates show that just in terms of physical infrastructure, more than a US $100 billion spends would be required in higher education alone, to double enrollment, from where it stands today (24%). Where regulation is concerned, bodies such as the University Grants Commission (UGC) and other higher education regulators are in-charge but leave much to be desired in terms of quality checks and monitoring, accreditation, etc. In fact, the UGC merely acts as a grants disbursing body now for universities and colleges, rather than a regulator. This is despite the fact that about 16% of the Ministry’s budget (2016-17) was allocated to UGC. Regarding quality, the government struggles to set standards and measure outcomes. Accreditation in the country is irregular and sub-optimal. In addition, unlike school education, where a certain level of learning outcomes may be gauged, this is difficult to do in higher education – especially assessing employability of a student post completing such education. So is there a role the government should prioritise? Further, because the government is entrusted with these roles, does it necessarily mean that they are its exclusive mandate? Or should the government act as an enabler and allow external participation if it means better execution and a higher success rate? The education and training industry is extremely large today and has strong further growth potential. With total educational spending of $2.7 trillion, the industry accounted for about 4.25% of the world’s GDP in 2010. In India alone, the spending on education and skilling has touched approximately Rs 74,000 crore. This may seem like a daunting figure but is still not sufficient. India spends about 4% of its GDP on all of education (about 1% on higher education), whereas globally the minimum recommended expenditure on education is 6% of GDP. Most of the public expenditure on higher education is used upon salaries and maintaining existing institutions, leaving very little to be spent on curriculum, research, and technology. However, spending on education still has enormous scaling to do and this is where the private sector comes in. Private players will have opportunities from rising demand in segments not well covered by the public education system (like adult education and vocational training). They bring in additional capital and are able to make huge investments, especially when government spending is insufficient and results in substantial infrastructure and investment deficit. For instance, the government had set a target of achieving a 30% enrolment ratio in higher education by 2020. The enrolment ratio currently is 24%. Judging by historical trends, and the current pace of rising enrolments, this target seems difficult to achieve. We may need a better, plan to succeed. Plus, the demand for higher education is only set to accelerate with growing population, higher enrolment as well as retention of students in schools. The private sector could play a crucial role in plugging these gaps and matching demand. In fact, it is already capturing the market in a big way, as can be seen in the adjacent graph. Enrolment in, and share of, private higher education institutions has surpassed that of government institutions (data as on 2013). Even the online education market in India expected to grow to US $40 billion by as soon as 2017. Unlike the education sector, which is legally mandated to operate on a not-for-profit basis, for-profit skill training institutes can be set up. This, coupled with initiatives of the National Skill Development Corporation, has encouraged the private sector to set up vocational training institutes. Corporate interest has also increased in the skill development space because of the benefits that accrue to businesses themselves, in the form of adequately trained manpower as a ready pool for future hiring. Majority of institutions offering professional disciplines are now in the private sector. There is a tendency of the public sector to view the private sector’s involvement in the education space with scepticism. But the private sector is necessary because of its ability to match industry demand for superior skilled manpower. It supplements infrastructure, facilities, technology and pedagogy and has an added advantage of escaping bureaucratic control and retaining autonomy to a large extent. Private players often collaborate with reputed international universities for faculty and other benefits which can be attractive to prospective students. They are also heavily investing in research-based education. As consumers of skilled manpower as well, the private sector is in a position to understand what type of skill training is to be imparted, and eventually benefit from it. This makes skill-training more efficient and effective. All three education-related roles of the government are equally important. However, while regulation should remain outside the purview of the private sector, nothing should stop them from assisting the public sector in maximising enrolments and improving quality of education. Public needs to work with private and create a level-playing field, in order to uplift the overall quality of education. Article Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.in/mayank-kumar/why-the-growth-of-higher-education-in-india-hinges-on-the-privat/

by Apoorva Shankar

08 Nov'16