A business called Education...

It was a gloomy evening at the Gandhibazar CCD in Bangalore. I was hanging out with my friends as one of them was travelling to Germany for his higher studies. Pissed off with his job at one of the software majors, my friend decided to go behind his dreams; joined IISc for a project in Electrical engineering. After an year and a half, he got an admit in one of the technical Universities in Germany. Over the small talk we had, I got to know that the fee he paid for the education which was spanned for a period of 2.5 years was just 16,000 INR! It took all of us with a shock! He later revealed the fact about the universities in Europe being completely funded, do not take much money from the students who come to study at the universities... This lead me to a completely different thought process altogether.

If you imagine a similar quality of education in India, it would have not cost you lesser than a few lakh INRs. Even for that matter, the US universities also take a hell lot of money for their MS programs. In the due of learning, the people who cannot afford the education will loose the inclination towards the main intent of their visit and try to work out a deal in their lives where the main motive shifts from education to earning money to get over the heavy loans that was made in the due coarse of getting quality education. Even in India if you see, institutions like IIMs and IITs have a respectable amount of funding a real good Alumni who can work out to get more funding into the institutions. I do agree that there is a lot of government interventions in these institutes; but the whole point here is about quality and cheaper education. If you see the industry I am associated with (the service industry), I can atleast comment that the world is moving towards a mode where quality products are expected to be delivered with a highly reduced costs.

Coming back to the institutions in India, no doubt that they have a real good set of individuals who contribute to the technical innovations of the world. They have to be backed with a good funding from either private organizations or the government should work towards it so that atleast the quality is not lost. They are not here to make money by venturing into education considering it as a business and an evergreen market. (Of course, I do agree that money has to be associated but not to an extent at a which it is now) This is when even the poorest kid in the society can afford to get an access into the education offered in these institutes. This is when bright ideas won't die due to lack of money. This is when there will be an economic balance created between the poor and the rich. This is when India can grow as a super power!

Signing off as of now ... Good luck to my friend!