Just when University Grants Commission (UGC) unveiled regulations to facilitate the entry of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions (FHEIs), India also surpassed China with a greater number of universities featured in the prestigious QS World University Rankings . What do these mean for higher education in India?

FHEIs’ entry can be likened to India’s 1991 market reforms, when the Narasimha Rao government dismantled barriers to trade and foreign investment and promised a level-playing field for all players. This development spooked local entrepreneurs and small businesses, who lacked the wherewithal to compete in a globalised market. Their very survival was under threat.

Against all odds, not only did the Indian businesses survive, but many became world-class in their domain. Their remarkable journey was meticulously captured in an aptly titled book, World Class in India, published in 2001 by Penguin Books.

Stages of competition

This book — co-authored by renowned management guru, the late Sumantra Ghoshal, business historian Gita Piramal, and a career banker Sudeep Budhiraja — chronicled 20 Indian companies, including household names like Bajaj Auto, Reliance Industries, Hindustan Lever (now Hindustan Unilever), Hero Honda Motors (now Hero MotoCorp), and Infosys Technologies (now Infosys), among others.

The book ascribes their success to winning three distinct stages of competition — the competition for markets, the competition for competencies, and the competition for dreams — thanks to the organisational processes and leadership that replaced the old strategy-structure-systems mantra with a new purpose-process-people philosophy. Two decades since the book’s publication, the illustrated companies continue to dominate in India, some have even become global champions. These companies were helmed by people who were a product of India’s higher educational institutions. If Indian corporates could become world-class by defying the odds, can India’s higher educational institutions follow suit?

While drawing parallels, one must recognise that India’s higher education trails far behind current corporate practices. Lack of readily employable graduates is a common lament among the corporate employers, who are often forced to invest in extensive in-house training. If India’s higher educational institutions aspire to become globally competitive, this gap needs to be fixed quickly. The entry of FHEIs might just be the trigger to upgrade, but just like the corporates, India’s higher educational institutions must do more in terms of ambitions, enabling processes, and attracting motivated people.

Seek excellence

First, merely having more universities than China will not suffice. The core purpose of our higher education system must seek excellence. Top Indian corporates did not become world-class because of government backing or subsidies, as with Chinese companies. Instead, they aspired to compete globally and became islands of excellence, inspiring others to follow suit. For instance, the transformation of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) under RA Mashelkar, as described in Sumantra Ghoshal’s book, happened because it pivoted from government-style culture to a corporate one and repurposed its mission from importing knowledge to exporting expertise.

Second, many highly reputed and well-resourced Indian business houses have nudged and nurtured their group companies to become globally competitive. Some corporates also manage educational institutions in India. These higher educational institutions can benefit from the corporate experience to become globally competitive. All that is required is an articulation of a compelling sense of purpose under a leadership that can instil a belief that achieving world-class status is possible.

Third, world-class Indian companies did not wait to acquire scale before they internationalised. Rather, they internationalised to acquire scale. Some of our top institutions such as the IITs and BITS Pilani have campuses abroad and others are in the process. These campuses can be groomed to become centres of excellence, unencumbered by home country constraints.

Others with a good reputation in India can vicariously learn by partnering with interested FHEIs, just as many Indian companies like Bajaj Auto and Hero Cycles did in the 1990s. In either case, investing more to attract global faculty and students is a must to climb up in global rankings. This may not happen anytime soon, but with patience and focus is certainly achievable.

Focus on research

Fourth, organisational processes must change to facilitate knowledge creation and entrepreneurship. This perhaps is going to be more challenging for higher education in India where teaching is given precedence over research, and the demand for good quality PhD candidates far exceeds supply. A robust and thriving research culture is the backbone of higher educational institute to become world-class. With a visionary leadership, supporting processes and incentives, this gap too can be bridged, just like Infosys did in the 1990s.

India’s higher education system is at the cusp of a transformative change. Taking a cue from Indian corporate success, it can march confidently towards a world-class future, in tandem with its thriving corporate sector.

The writer is Associate Prof (strategy), BITSoM

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