SURGE OF SOUTH INDIA AS EDUCATION HUB

India is one of world’s fastest growing knowledge-based economies and ranks 2nd in terms of student enrolment in higher education in the world. With approximately 762 universities, India has the world’s largest higher education system. The Gross Enrolment

Aeducation round enrolled students in 35.7 India in higher million during were 2016-17. market in The India education is currently valued at US$ 100 billion and is expected to nearly double to US$ 180 billion by 2020. Higher education contributes 15 % of the market size. India has managed to create additional capacity for over 40 million students. It witnesses spending of over Rs 46,200 crore (US$ 6.93 billion). On average, higher education accounts for 15.3% of the total household expenditure in rural and 18.4% in urban areas. In South India, the corresponding figures are 43% and 38%. The South Indian states of Tamil Nadu ,Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala have emerged as the top destinations for engineering, management, financial and other professional courses in India due too presence of large number of corporates and private sector investments. Home to some of them are worldclass institutions of learning, most of the leading institutes are located in cities like Chennai , Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kozhikode, Cochin, Trichy, Manipal and Vizag. These cities are home to several premier educational institutes offering industry based programmes. A significant number of these schools offer quality education and great placements. The region is also home to some of the most popular engineering colleges including reputed IITs and NITs as well as a host of top ranking private engineering colleges. As per the latest statistics by Labour Bureau of India, the total jobs created across eight sectors (that have the ability to provide jobs to MBA graduates) has been 4.93 lacs and 1.35 lacs for 2014 and 2015 respectively. Chennai has been at the forefront when it comes to technical education. The city has evolved over the years to offer world class technical education that is in line with the contemporary needs of the industry. The presence of several auto majors in the city has traditionally propelled engineering education in Chennai. The rapid expansion of IT / computer technology sector have rejuvenated the engineering and management domain. As a result of this phenomenon, several new engineering and management institutes have come up in Chennai. Another growing sector is the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) sector. In India, this sector is expected to provide jobs to an additional 1.6 million skilled workers by 2022. This means plenty of opportunities for those wanting to establish in financial sector. A National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) report reveals that the sector will need an in including and several infusion retail HR finance, to corporate banking, departments, meet of technology manpower future treasury, banking, challenges. Skilled manpower the success and is employable of the this key sector. to Once of again, management the combination education with specialisation in Finance or engineering graduates with management degrees are best fit to fill the roles and demands of the banking and financial services industry. The leading cities of South India - Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad are already well poised to support the finance industry with talented human resource. Another interesting development in this context is the India’s mobile wallet industry. It is estimated to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 150 % to reach US$ 4.4 billion by 2022 while mobile wallet transactions to touch Rs 32 trillion (USD $ 492.6 billion) by 2022. According to experts, four metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai can reap benefits of US$ 7.2 billion annually by increasing payments through digital means. The state of Kerala has a special place among Southern Indian states. It has achieved a human development index comparable to the developed countries of the World. The state tops the literacy charts and has made repeated efforts to rapidly advance higher education during the last few years. Kerala has many renowned institutions - Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, National Institute of Technology, Trichy, Cochin University of Science and Technology and University of Kerala. The Kerala Education Grid is a major project for providing quality education to those who are pursuing higher studies. With participation from premier institutions and universities of Kerala, the Grid links all the educational institutions across the state. The Grid addresses the problem of providing quality education in colleges and universities using Technology Enhanced Learning and Teaching (TELT) by involving the teachers themselves as much as possible. With the presence of major tech companies like Microsoft, Google, IBM, Dell and Facebook in Southern Indian states; the demands for quality education has increased and South India has transformed into an education hub of India.