Higher education is a stage of learning that occurs after secondary education at the Universities, Colleges and Institutes of Technology. The aim of higher education is to prepare a person to play his part well, as an enlightened member of society.
India has the third largest higher education system in the world with around 789 universities and university level institutes that impart higher and technical education. They also provide affiliation to more than 37,204 colleges and institutes (As of February 2017).
Higher education system in India is imparted through about 180 universities and neatly 4500 colleges. In addition there are several institutions imparting specialized knowledge and technical skills. Since education is a State subject. The State Governments in India are free to open new university. Grants Commission is an authority which dispenses grants to the universities. However, its formal sanction is not necessary to open a university. Taking advantage of this provision many State governments in India have opened a large number of universities in recent years.
The tremendous increase in the number of students and of educational institutions has given rise to the term ‘education explosion’. No doubt, this has resulted in serious problems such as inadequacy of financial resources and infrastructure and dilution of personal attention to the education and character-formation of the students. Also, there is the unwanted side-effect of enormous increase in the number of educated unemployed. However, we cannot overlook the advantages of education explosion in India. Mere increase in the percentage of literate people does not indicate a qualitative change in the educational standards of the people and a real improvement in manpower resources of India. Unemployment problem in India cannot be blamed on the availability of large masses educational people in India.
