Learning · Sub-pillar 1.3

Higher education and research

Universities and research institutions, the quality of their teaching, and their capacity to produce new knowledge.

What is higher education and research?

Higher education and research is sub-pillar 1.3 of the 47 BH framework for a developed Bharat by 2047, the third of four sub-pillars under the Learning pillar. It asks whether India's universities and research institutions teach well and produce new knowledge, not only whether they award degrees.

Why it matters for 2047

Every developed country has universities that the world's students want to attend and research that the world cites. India has more young people of college age than any other country, and what they learn in those years will shape the quality of its doctors, engineers, teachers, administrators and founders through 2047.

Research matters for a different reason. A country that only applies knowledge created elsewhere will always be a step behind in medicine, energy, agriculture and the technologies that define the century. New knowledge is also where high-value industries begin; the Enterprise pillar covers that commercial step, and this sub-pillar covers the knowledge itself.

The risk India faces is quantity without quality: enrolment and degrees rising while teaching, research funding and global standing lag behind. 47 BH keeps its eye on the second set of numbers.

Where India stands

  • 30%

    was the gross enrolment ratio in higher education in 2023-24, up from 23.7% in 2014-15. Total enrolment reached 4.50 crore students, and women's enrolment ratio (31.2%) now exceeds men's (28.9%).[1]

  • 3.43 lakh

    students were enrolled in PhD programmes in 2023-24, up from 1.17 lakh in 2014-15. India had 1,289 universities and 48,246 colleges.[1]

  • 0.64%

    of GDP was India's gross expenditure on research and development in 2020-21, a ratio that has fallen since 2009-10 and is far below Germany, the United States, China and Brazil. The private sector funds about 36% of it.[2]

  • 54

    Indian institutions were ranked in the QS World University Rankings 2026, the highest being IIT Delhi at 123rd.[3]

Access has expanded fast. Enrolment grew by nearly a third in a decade, the gender parity index rose above one, and the number of universities and PhD students has multiplied. [1]

Quality and research have not kept pace. India spends a smaller share of its income on research than most large economies, and the share has been falling rather than rising. [2] No Indian institution yet ranks in the world's top 100 universities. [3] The question for 2047 is whether the country can turn the scale it has built into depth.

A note on the numbers: the All India Survey on Higher Education is the Ministry of Education's official statistical source. Research spending comes from the Department of Science and Technology's R&D statistics, here as summarised by PRS Legislative Research. Global rankings are produced by private organisations with their own methods and should be read as one signal among several.

On the 47 BH report card

Every 15 August, 47 BH reports how far India has come on each sub-pillar. For this sub-pillar, the headline indicators are:

  • Gross enrolment ratio in higher education, and PhD enrolment (AISHE).
  • Gross expenditure on research and development as a share of GDP (Department of Science and Technology).
  • Number of Indian institutions in the global top 200 and top 500 (QS and Times Higher Education rankings), read alongside research output and citations.

Two lenses on higher education and research

City and village

47 BH asks whether a bright student from a village or a small town can reach a good college and a good research lab, or whether both remain concentrated in a few large cities. It also asks whether colleges in district towns, where most Indian students study, teach as well as the institutions that appear in rankings.

Learn, avoid, protect

Learn
What can India learn from countries that built world-class public universities within a generation, funded research steadily through good years and bad, and drew talent home from abroad?
Avoid
Which mistakes should it avoid, such as opening colleges faster than it can staff them, or measuring universities by the number of degrees they award rather than what graduates know and what researchers discover?
Protect
What of its own should it protect, such as the public institutions that have produced generations of scientists and engineers, its tradition of scholarship in many languages, and the ambition of its students?

What this sub-pillar does not cover

Each topic has one home in the framework. These related topics sit elsewhere:

Questions about higher education and research

What share of young Indians go to college?

The gross enrolment ratio in higher education was 30% in 2023-24, up from 23.7% in 2014-15, according to the All India Survey on Higher Education. Women's enrolment ratio, at 31.2%, is now higher than men's, at 28.9%. [1]

How much does India spend on research?

About 0.64% of GDP in 2020-21, the latest year in the Department of Science and Technology's statistics. The share has fallen since 2009-10 and is well below that of Germany, the United States, China and Brazil. [2]

Are Indian universities in the global rankings?

Fifty-four Indian institutions appear in the QS World University Rankings 2026, led by IIT Delhi at 123rd. None is yet in the top 100. [3]

Why does 47 BH separate research from innovation?

Because they are different jobs. Producing new knowledge is the work of universities and research institutions, covered here. Turning that knowledge into products and companies is the work of enterprise, covered under the Enterprise pillar. Each topic has one home in the framework.

Sources

  1. Ministry of Education, "All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2022-23 and 2023-24", Press Information Bureau factsheet, 30 August 2026. https://www.pib.gov.in/FactsheetDetails.aspx?id=150983&NoteId=150983&ModuleId=16&reg=3&lang=1
  2. PRS Legislative Research, "Demand for Grants 2024-25 Analysis: Science and Technology", citing Department of Science and Technology R&D statistics, 2024. https://prsindia.org/budgets/parliament/demand-for-grants-2024-25-analysis-science-and-technology
  3. QS Quacquarelli Symonds, QS World University Rankings 2026, published 19 June 2025; Indian results as reported by Careers360. https://news.careers360.com/qs-world-university-2026-rankings-great-news-for-indias-education-sector-prime-minister-54-institutions-in-list

47 BH cites every figure so that it can be checked. If you find an error, it will be corrected openly and the date below will change.

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