The interests of students, parents, society, industry, and the nation are intimately connected through the higher education system. Further, in the next 35-50 years, India must educate and prepare 700 million to 1.3 billion young men and women for their lives and careers. So, how is India’s higher education system doing and how could it be transformed to better meet the needs of its stakeholders?

1. Building Golden India:
How to unleash India’s vast potential
and transform its higher education
system. Now.
Read a new book that is receiving rave
reviews on a topic of significant
importance: India and the future of the
nation, its 1.3 billion people, and its
higher education system.
The book is written by Shail Kumar,
past-president, IIT Foundation and
includes a foreword by Desh
Deshpande, trustee, Deshpande
Foundation and life member, MIT
Corporation.

2. National Impact Award Winners
1. Arjun Das: home services
2. Meera Gupta: water
3. Ziya Khan: health care
4. Gautama Raju: solar energy
5. Pooja Shah and Amarjit Singh:
agriculture
Building Golden India: How to unleash India’s vast potential and transform its higher education system. Now.
Copyright © Shail Kumar 2015
India 2047:
where
Young men and women in all
walks of lives and around the
country are applying their
talents, working hard, and
making an impact at a national
scale. In this vision, research,
innovation, entrepreneurship,
interdisciplinary learning, and
industry-university
collaborations play a critical
role.

3. Building Golden India: How to unleash India’s vast potential and transform its higher education system. Now.
Copyright © Shail Kumar 2015
India 1947-2015
Come a long way since
independence
 India’s share of world’s GDP
dropped from 24.4% in 1700s
to 4.3% by the time British left.
 Improvements in many sectors,
e.g. GDP per capita has grown
by five times.
However, India is facing many
mega challenges
 That affect over 100 million
people each, e.g. poverty, urban
migration, and climate change.

4. Building Golden India: How to unleash India’s vast potential and transform its higher education system. Now.
Copyright © Shail Kumar 2015
Higher Education, which is all
post-secondary education,
including vocational training, sits
at a critical junction of our society.
Well prepared professionals, and a
thriving research, innovation and
entrepreneurship ecosystem are
fundamental for addressing India's
mega challenges, unleashing the
potential of 1.3 billion people, and
making the economy more vibrant
and sustainable.
So how is India’s higher education
system doing?

5. India’s Higher Education
System is in Crisis
Building Golden India: How to unleash India’s vast potential and transform its higher education system. Now.
Copyright © Shail Kumar 2015
 Gross enrollment ratio is around 20%.
 There is a severe shortage of excellent institutions, faculty members, and
university leaders.
 Almost seventy years after independence there is not even one world-
class comprehensive research university in India.
 According to one study, 75% to 90% of the graduates are considered
unemployable.
 Students, parents, society, industry and nation are paying a huge price
for this broken system.
So what is the solution?

6. Gray Revolution
Building Golden India: How to unleash India’s vast potential and transform its higher education system. Now.
Copyright © Shail Kumar 2015
India has done well in times of crisis:
 Green Revolution (food crisis)
 Milk Revolution (milk shortage)
 1991 economic liberalization (at the gun point of foreign
exchange reserves crisis)
We need a Gray Revolution for the crisis in India’s higher
education system.

7. Building Golden India: How to unleash India’s vast potential and transform its higher education system. Now.
Copyright © Shail Kumar 2015
Building Blocks of the Gray Revolution

8.  We can build a golden India.
(India was once a Golden Bird.)
 We can transform our higher education system.
(there is plenty of evidence that it can be done.)
 We must start the journey now.
(Demographic dividend is a time-sensitive phenomenon.)
Building Golden India: How to unleash India’s vast potential and transform its higher education system. Now.
Copyright © Shail Kumar 2015
India 2015—2047—

9. Building Golden India: How to unleash India’s vast potential and transform its higher education system. Now.
Copyright © Shail Kumar 2015
What leaders and readers are saying about
Building Golden India
How to unleash India’s vast potential and transform
its higher education system. Now.
“A groundbreaking book”
“A superb job”
“One of the most gripping non-fiction
books I have ever read”
“A must read”
“Commendable treatise on India’s
higher education system”
Purchase the book at: www.amazon.com/author/shailkumar
For more information on the book or author, visit: www.shailkumar.com