fter liberalisation and deregulation of the dirigiste socialist Indian economy in 1991, the country’s middle class has grown and prospered. According to some estimates it numbers 400 million or 80 million households, as the outflow of Indian graduates and latterly school-leavers, to universities in English-speaking countries — the US, UK, Australia and Canada as also to European countries — has become a torrent. India’s new upwardly mobile middle class has become acutely aware that the best quality higher education offered by well-equipped Western — especially America’s — universities is the smart passport to jobs and success in the increasingly complex workplaces of the 21st century. Therefore currently an estimated 500,000 Indian students are enrolled in higher education institutions abroad, 40 percent of them in the US.
Thus far, the focus of education consultants and students aspiring for US education has been on America’s famous Ivy League institutions and universities on the east and west coasts with excellent marketing skills and international outreach. However, many of America’s relatively insular colleges and universities (in the US they are synonymous) of impressive vintage and offering high quality academic programmes are unfamiliar to Indian students and households.
This reality impacted EducationWorld CEO, Bhavin Shah forcefully when he connected with the Michigan Colleges Alliance, a consortium of 14 independent (mainly undergrad) colleges sited in Michigan — the heart of America’s manufacturing industry, hosting megacorps including General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and several heavyweight defence, chemicals, and pharma multinational corporations. Excellent academic, co-curricular and sports education apart, these well-endowed colleges offer generous scholarships, and internship and placement opportunities in globally admired companies, and expressed great interest in welcoming school-leavers and graduates from India. The outcome of Shah’s week-long visit to Michigan and endorsement of MCA and its low-profile but excellent higher education institutions is our unprecedented cover story in this issue. It is certain to arouse great interest in students aspiring to attain the dream of globally reputed high quality American higher education.
In addition in this issue, we present a pictorial essay of the EducationWorld India Higher Education Rankings Awards function staged in Delhi in which India’s most admired colleges and universities that topped the EWIHER 2023-24 league tables in several categories (published in April & May) were felicitated and awarded. With insightful editorials, expert columns, book reviews and news reports from around the country, we hope this Monsoon issue will enthuse our growing community of print and online readers.
