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A Wag Whenever unity sits down to write on the mess that unmatchable finds in the atomic number 18na of higher(prenominal) development, one(a) is struck by a sense of dJ vu as well as a sense of inability to say nything new. Pawan Agarwals comprehensive paper that he wrote for CRIER, the comminuted herald by National Knowledge Commission (headed by the ungovernable Sam Pitroda) are Just two of the many articles that easily do it to mind. The first one noteed, has exhaustive data at a fairly disaggregated level so that this aspect require not detain us here.The issues and ch tout ensembleenges in this context -that are fairly well understood are diverse not typical. Thus, the ch all in allenge is not epistemological but one of political leave alone and at a more mundane level of implementation. In India, it oes not take a genius to point forth the problems in any sphere, least of all in the higher educational welkin. The point however is (ought to be) to identify wor kable solutions. In this article I will concentrate on the capacity, flexibility and quality issues that beset the higher educational sector in India and suggest virtually steps that admit to be taken to remedy the situation.Rest assured, at that place will be no magic wand and no single solution. Help and initiative from whatsoever quarter must be sought and grabbed by both hands. A bouquet approach will alone be realistic, driven by ragmatism rather than ideology. Whilst finance is undoubtedly important, I argue that judicature is the key. The essentials of the level are easily told Despite tremendous expansion in the sector, there is inadequate capacity and hence access after all we agree 350 universities with huge enrollment (one of the largest in the world).The clay is characterized by hard-and-fastity with suddenly no flexibility we hasten degrees creation offered in a rigid framework with very little choice for the students (who should matter the most) and the or dinations are antediluvian with peculiar unresponsiveness to the current context. Thanks to the perverse hiring policies and protracted procedures (not to mention politics with and without enunciate interference) the quality of faculty is in a call down of rapid decline. The reasons and solutions are well known and insofar some of them cause repetition.Having made a first cut let us revisit the issues in some detail, but first some preliminaries. India is at rag roads. It has all the pretensions of emerging as a knowledge economy and yet the time is running out for it to catch the bus. Surely, we dont require Thomas Friedman to point out the gravity of the situation. After all, what we o today by focusing of investment will have a decisive influence fifteen years from now. For that is how capacious (even in these fast paced times) it takes for changes in educational system to fructify.It is no secret that a genuine knowledge has a obligatory of solid foundation provided b y educational institutions characterized by relevance and goodness in training and research. This then must provide us with the parametric environment for what follows. The long queues in front of the colleges as well as the screaming headlines in the newspapers, starkly present the scarcity of capacity in the higher educational sector. The premium that the seats in better colleges for about all the courses attract is common knowledge.Whilst there are supervisory mechanisms in place (de Jure) we know that supervision many a time centre additional side payments. As an aside, the only solution lies in egotism enforcing system design which in this case would clearly imply removal of striuctural and overall scarcities through increased capacities. The National Knowledge Commission (NKC) report talks of setting up 50 National Universities (over a period) with increase resources leading to capacity enhancement.There is the private universities bill which should help too. There is a scope for great enhancement of capacity in the PPP mode, for which the regulation has to be more welcoming if not friendly. Whilst there is a need to think out of box, there is no denying the fact that the traditional state funding mode will however continue to be of greatness for at least some time to come. We must once and for all put an end to view that improvements are possible witn Just non-monetary means.This implies a self binding commitment on the part of governments at all levels to provide the necessary financial resources. The urrent spending on higher education that is pegged at around 0. 7% of GDP must be doubled. This will require a serious lobbying labour. In this context, it may be illustrious that there is much that can be done by the institutions on their own in terms of raising resources. Alumni represent a huge potential source, so also setting up of off brim campuses and attracting foreign students are other obvious sources.However, this will require some am endments in the existing provisions of the Act, also, experience suggests that such efforts are rewarded by cut back in aid, instead of matching incentive grants being proffered. Such efforts in the past have been post facto subjected by the government, to pure(a) restrictions on the use of monies so collected. Clearly there is a governance issue involved here. This apart, the required enabling (through regulatory changes) of private sector is a must for the purposes of raising supplementary resources.The private endowments which at one time were significant, have to be restored through incentive based legislation. At the same time the interference as distinct from engagement of the defer in all aspects of education has to be significantly reduced, especially in the operations and rocedural aspects. This has been a major cause that led to the Universities being converted into sponsor saints of mediocrity The state must truly practice private enablement with concern from a di stance. Of course, the processes involved in the setting up in the study universities (or even investing in old ones are so long drawn and convoluted that with the given absorption capacity of the institutions it will be some time before the plan becomes a reality. Also, and more importantly, the dearth with regard to the attendant requirement of quality faculty (which we shall ook at later) is so great that even with physical infrastructure the delivery will not be assured. This requires some bold and innovative thinking and application which requires a key governance initiative. The external agencies like the corporations and industries will have to puzzle out (be enabled to do so) a major role.In the interim, I would suggest that IT enabled distance erudition mode as well as the platform for e-learning have to be exploited to the fullest extent. This will require huge organization and collaborative effort of the best minds. It is especially required to mention this here ecaus e these avenues (particularly the first mentioned) are pretty much have received step treatment and have been left to the whims and fancies of the second raters. This has created sections of milch cows that fraudulently extract coin from the hapless students and give nothing in return.