Reforming higher education in India

India has a large youth population and is home to more than 1,300 universities. However, Indian universities face a paradox, said Raj Bhati, director of strategic alliances, industry and global engagement at Galgotias University in India. “In spite of such an extraordinary scale, we do not have any university or college in the top 100 [in global higher education rankings],” he said, speaking at the 2025 THE World Academic Summit.

The higher education sector in India faces major challenges such as expansion pressure, economic barriers, regulatory constraints and limited global exposure, Bhati said. Galgotias University has embarked on a project to modernise higher education by creating a new education ecosystem. “We are reimagining classrooms, the pedagogy and the learning culture itself,” he explained.

Richard James, professor emeritus at Galgotias University, spoke about the university’s aspirations and the progress it has made. “Very few universities have the courage and the ambition to take a whole-of-university approach to transforming educational culture and practices,” he said. 

Galgotias University’s G-SCALE project is designed to modernise all aspects of learning. James said that higher education in India is often based on didactic lecturing and rote learning, with exams designed to assess what students can recall from lectures. “Galgotias University is prepared to challenge the norms,” he added.

“There are six parameters that define the cultural change that we’re creating,” James said. The first is redesigning classrooms from tiered lecture theatres to ones that allow students to collaborate. The second element of the G-SCALE ecosystem is adopting digital learning tools through a learning management system. 

The third component is intensive faculty development. “The university has put 1,500 faculty members through weeks of training to influence their conceptions of teaching,” James said. 

The fourth component is adopting evaluation techniques that align with the new ecosystem. The university has carried out extensive professional development work to redefine assessment practices alongside pedagogy. “All of our quality assurance surveys have been aligned with the new expectations for teaching and learning,” James said.

Another important factor is sensitising students and orientating them to new patterns of teaching and learning. “Students in India have spent all their lives as students expecting didactic instruction and assessment by recall. So we are confronting student expectations too.” Finally, the institution has undertaken intensive work in governance support, which determines how policy decisions are made.

“The investment was not only in resources – it was also about the commitment and the tenacity to see it through,” said Jin-Yuan Yeong, associate director of G-SCALE at Galgotias University and assistant director at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “Time and effort were equally important in galvanising and getting people moving and on the same page.”

The G-SCALE transformation is a long journey, Yeong said. “The reason we call it an ecosystem is that changes in a particular area influence and lead to changes elsewhere. And maintaining that balance and connection across all areas of focus was important to us.” 

The panel:

• Raj Bhati, director of strategic alliances, industry and global engagement, Galgotias University
• Richard James, professor emeritus, Galgotias University
• Jin-Yuan Yeong, associate director of G-SCALE, Galgotias University and assistant director, Nanyang Technological University

Find out more about Galgotias University.