(a) whether India’s spending on higher education is less than China, Malaysia and Indonesia;
(b) if so, the reasons therefor; and
(c) whether India spends just one per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on higher education and if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto?
MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)
(a) to (c): As per the data available with the Ministry of Human Resource Development, the expenditure on higher education (including technical education) in India out of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 1.34%, 1.36% and 1.43% (provisional) during 2010-11, 2011- 12 (Revised Estimates) and 2012-13 (Budget Estimates) respectively. Similar data for other countries is not being maintained by this Ministry. However, as per the latest figures available on the website of UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) (www.uis.unesco.org), government expenditure on higher education as percentage of GDP in Indonesia and Malaysia is 0.61% and 2.19% respectively. For China, latest figure available with UIS is for the year 1999 only, which is 0.46%. The outlay of Department of Higher Education for the XII Five year Plan is Rs.110700 crore as compared to the actual expenditure of the XI Plan, which was Rs. 39646.82 crore for the Department of Higher Education. This is an increase of about three times. This increase in central plan outlay for higher education represents a determined effort on the part of the Central Government for raising public spending on higher education.