Destiny July 2014 | Page 2

QUALITY AMBIENCE IS

2

Problems with Indian Institutions.

Lack of endowment culture: In the US and Europe, alumni give back to their university in the form of grants, donations and sometimes their entire property after death (if they are a loner).

This money is harvested in hedge funds, startups and other investment avenues make it constantly grow. Harvard alone has $32 Billion in its endowments [2]. Stanford has about $16 billion, Yale about $19 billion.

This money funds new infrastructure, research and faculty. In contrast, entire expenditure on higher education in India by the government is about $3 billion/year and all expenses on all education is about $10 billion [3].

Top Indian institutions are young. Almost all reputed universities in the UK and US are over a century old. Oxford was founded in 1167 AD, Cambridge in 1209, Harvard in 1636, Yale in 1701, etc. That means they have an accumulated benefit of centuries of wisdom, alumni, infrastructure and international reputation. It takes time to build your name and alumni. India’s top institutions are only decades old (first IIT came in 1951).