India needs 800 varsities in next 10 years: Sibal

New Delhi, Mar 24: Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday, Mar 24, said that India will need 800 more universities and another 35,000 colleges in the next 10 years.

Sibal said, "India has about 480 university and about 22,000 colleges. We will need another 800 to a thousand universities in the next ten years."

The HRD Minister noted that this will increase the percentage of students going for higher education from the present 12.4 pc in the country.

He further said, "We will need another 35,000 colleges in the next ten years...we are still below 40 pc which I think is critical."

Sibal was speaking at the first contact group meeting of Parliamentarians for Education of the UNESCO South Asia Cluster.

"And I think that if we in this part of the world recognise the facts, we will realise how important education is for a developing economy," he said.

Sibal said that the energy of a nation ultimately depends on its youth. "The energy of a nation does not depend on parliamentarians who are over 60 years," he added.

OneIndia News