India needs 800 universities, 35,000 colleges in next ten years: Sibal

New Delhi, Mar 24 (ANI): Union Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said that India needs at least 800 more universities and over 35,000 colleges in the coming ten years to add to the percentage of students going for higher education.

At present 12.4 percent of students go for higher education from the country, he claimed.

"India has about 480 university and about 22,000 colleges. If we were to increase that figure of 12 percent to 30 percent, we will need another 800 to a thousand universities in the next ten years," said Sibal.

"We will need another 35,000 colleges in the next ten years. We are still below 40 percent which I think is critical," he added.

Speaking at the first contact group meeting of Parliamentarians for Education of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organsiation (UNESCO) South Asia Cluster, Sibal highlighted the importance of human resource development.

Sibal said when the global economy is not doing well and the stock market is on decline, the facts related to importance of education in a developing economy should be realised.

" When the global economy is doing well and the stock market is in the up swing, the developed nations share their prosperity with us," added Sibal.

"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," said Sibal.

The HRD Minister further said that the energy of a nation depends on its youth, adding that in the 21st century, acquisition of physical or tangible assets will not be the wealth of any country but it will be the acquisition of intangible assets.

Delegates from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka and other south Asian countries participated in the first contact group meeting of Parliamentarians for Education of the UNESCO South Asia Cluster. (ANI)