The Indian education system has to be reformed to enable students to get quality education and to prepare them for the world market, said G. Viswanathan, Chancellor, VIT University, on Wednesday.

Addressing members of Indo-American Chamber of Commerce as part of ‘Meet success first hand' series, he said “We have a rigid higher education policy that never allows students to switch over to other subjects. We have to introduce flexibility. Curriculum has to be updated on a regular basis. Amendments have to be made to education policy and more money has to be spent on higher education.”

Universities offered higher education the world over, but in India it was the colleges that did so. These colleges did not have adequate infrastructure and that's why they were lagging behind in terms of global ranking of universities.

“We have to follow the US model, where the numbers are high and the quality is good. Unless we give quality education, it will not be possible to sustain the growth. We need qualified youngsters,” he said.

Noting that only IISc and IIT Kharagpur were mentioned in the Best 500 Universities in the World, he said “We have a long way to go in terms of higher education. Only 12 per cent of 220 million students have access to higher education in terms of gross enrolment ratio. Government alone cannot invest money and it calls for contributions from private sector. Besides, only four per cent of the GDP was spent on higher education against the targeted six per cent. We have been lobbying to get higher funds for education as well as for the health. ”

The Chancellor said that state governments should step in to offer education free to eligible candidates. Tamil Nadu government had exempted tuition fees to first generation graduate students, while the Andhra Pradesh Government paid tuition fees to poor students. “If Andhra Pradesh can do it why not other states?” he asked.

Mr. Viswanathan said that poor people should be extended help based on their economic status and education qualifications instead of the present reservation based on caste/religion. He pointed out that State governments do not fund private universities and the funds offered by the Union Government were insufficient. Industries should come forward to help private universities with regard to research, publications and patents.

“Despite all these funding problems, VIT students were able to successfully develop Rohini-200, a sounding rocket in collaboration with ISRO,” he said.