How transformative was 2025 for higher education in India?

In 2025, India’s higher education system crossed a critical threshold, where regulatory reforms sought to closely align with market realities, expanded student options, and integrated global opportunities. These changes marked not just incremental adjustments, but the promise of real change – accountability and aspiration to accelerate growth in the years to come.

Regulatory change takes hold

The Develop India Education Foundation Bill, which aims to create a Develop India Education Foundation (Aayog), emerged as the cornerstone regulation of 2025, which consolidated the University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) into a single, technology-driven body. It is expected that institutions long burdened with overlapping rules and unnecessary approvals – engineering colleges navigating AICTE norms, UGC affiliation, state approval and special recognition – will get relief. The bill seeks to eliminate this maze, redirecting compliance resources toward teaching, research, and student support.

The unique selling point of the VBSA proposal is its focus on outcomes. Regulators want to eliminate prescriptive mandates on faculty qualifications, infrastructure checklists and rigorous curriculum, focusing instead on measurable outcomes: student learning outcomes, six-month employment rates, citation-impacting research and innovation metrics such as patents and startups. The AI-powered National Education Intelligence Platform (NEIP) can enable real-time tracking of placements, faculty productivity and citations with automated pulls from global databases, replacing cumbersome paper reports and long accreditation cycles.

High-performing institutions stand to earn hierarchical autonomy: flexible curricula tailored to job markets, global faculty appointments without bureaucratic delays, market-reflected fees, and accelerated program launches. Institutions that may be left behind are said to receive targeted interventions – faculty training, infrastructure upgrades, peer mentoring – rather than punitive closures. Blockchain-secure credentials can add verifiability, and are easily accessible across borders. This will not only curb attempts at fraud but will also make global recognition easier for Indian graduates.

While the proposed Commission carries some risks: the risk of highlighting the poor performance of legacy institutions that are resistant to transparency; Furthermore, there is a risk of tension between the states and the Union due to underlying fears about centralization.

Yet the VBSA proposal promises a cultural shift from bureaucratic survival to excellence.

Pilot autonomy grants to 50-100 top institutions over the next two years could generate success stories that put pressure on laggards, while a public NEIP dashboard by 2028 will empower students to compare outcomes on fees or rankings. Of course, this will also force mid-tier colleges to invest in data systems and foster true competition, potentially raising overall standards among institutions.

International Campus

International branch campuses arrive in 2025 as premium anchors lifting the sector. The University of Southampton’s Delhi campus charging ₹22 lakh annually (60% of UK fees) sparked debate – critics feared elite capture. Proponents said these institutions benchmarked the cost of quality, promoted domestic competition, and revealed families’ willingness to pay for excellence over geography.

Footsteps established by seventeen global players: Russell Group Universities in Bengaluru and Mumbai, Deakin in Gujarat, Wollongong in Telangana, GIFT City among others. These were not outposts but complete replicas – rigorous academics, global brands, advanced laboratories, identical curricula. Families spending ₹40-80 lakh on uncertain study abroad opted for half-cost, visa-free options, proving higher fees signal quality, not elitism.

Domestic institutions responded by investing over ₹500 crore in AI hubs, quantum labs, biotech facilities and sustainability centres. They lured Ivy/Oxbridge PhDs with ₹50 lakh packages, launched ₹40-50 lakh executive MBAs with immersion and industry capstones, and created 1:10 residential liberal arts models emphasizing seminars and mentorship. Mid-level players increased faculty salaries, advanced through endowments, dashboarded results, and partnered to industry curriculum.

Enrolling 50,000–100,000 out of 43 million students, these campuses attempt to spread quality downwards without reducing access to scale. Equity concerns remain – high fees exclude low-income candidates – but scholarships stand out. Expect 20-30 more campuses, “Indian Ivy” alliances and 20-30% fee reduction by 2028, achieve 5% premium enrollment and move closer to global parity.

Liberal arts gain legitimacy

2025 shows signs of change in student priorities, potentially elevating liberal arts from JEE/NEET “backup” to the first choice for top scorers. Philosophy, psychology, international relations, environmental studies and interdisciplinary mix were popular, with applications up 146% from 2020-2023 to Ashoka, FLAME, Azim Premji, Crea and the new Pune/Coimbatore campuses.

Graduates of these programs landed in McKinsey/BCG consulting, Google/Microsoft human-AI roles, UN/think tank policy positions, and sustainability/fintech startups. The average first year package exceeds ₹20 lakh, rivaling that of Tier II engineers. Employers value irreplaceable human skills: critical thinking amid uncertainty, persuasive communication, AI-governing ethics, interdisciplinary synthesis, lifelong adaptability—AI-proof characteristics.

AI advancements have driven demand, automating routine tasks and enhancing creativity, empathy, judgment and insight. Philosophy majors shape AI ethics; Economists combine behavioral psychology with ML in hybrid workplaces. Entrepreneurship embraced “portfolio careers” combining consulting, enterprise, policy – ​​the learning-teaching ethos of the liberal arts, overcoming narrow technical paths vulnerable to obsolescence.

Well-to-do parents supported the passion. Ashoka reported 85% placement/promotion within six months; FLAME alumni have graced Goldman Sachs and UN Sustainability. IT services produced in the decade 1990–2010 by engineering; Now cognitive diversity – philosophers are arguing coders – promotes innovation leadership.

These steps complement technical education, broadening creative, diplomatic and ethical technical pathways. Enrollment could double in the next two years; Humanities-AI hybrids may become the new normal.

Skills programs promote mobility

In 2025, allied health and skills-based programs will quietly transform the lives of millions of people by filling huge gaps in the global workforce. WHO’s prediction of a shortage of 40 million health workers by 2030 opens up new possibilities. The institutes expanded their services in areas such as physiotherapy, medical laboratory technology, radiology, anesthesia technology, dialysis, respiratory therapy, audiology, occupational therapy, nutrition and cardiology technology. These are the areas where there is always a shortage of employees in developed countries with increasing population.

A physiotherapist in India who earns ₹15,000-25,000 per month may get €3,500-4,500 (₹3.2-4 lakh) in Germany – 15-20 times their income with full social security. UK lab techs earned £30,000+ per year, while Australian radiographers earned AUD70,000 to AUD 90,000 per year, often with benefits to relocate to their families. Startups make processes more efficient by combining credential evaluation under the Washington/Seoul Agreement, German B2 or English proficiency training, licensing exam preparation, direct job placement, and visa processing into one package.

The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professionals in India has made it mandatory for NEET admission from 2026 to 2027, seeking to set standards of quality and validity for those courses. Manipal Academy, Mahindra University and Apollo Healthcare create comprehensive programs with over 1,000 hours of clinical training and global certifications such as the American Heart Association.

The patterns went beyond health. For example, aviation programs for pilots and maintenance engineers were in high demand as air travel was growing rapidly. Maritime academies in India train 12.8% of the world’s sailors. Global chains needed hospitality workers, and Germany needed welders and HVAC workers due to a severe shortage.

For middle and lower-middle class families, the ₹2-4 lakh diploma or two-year programs are promised to be job-oriented courses. These courses promise to turn the “unemployed graduate” narrative upside down.

A closer look reveals a larger scale: One million allied health graduates could fill 5% of the world’s gap by sending $50 billion per year by 2028. Over the next three years, Japan will get 500 new programs, made easier to get into with government scholarships, and will also include nursing assistants and elder care in the country. This field can generate 30% more social mobility, showing that skills are more important than degrees for fairness.

Results Trump Expansion Matrix

The number of universities in India has increased from 723 to 1,213 and the number of MBBS seats has almost doubled to 118,000. 20 IIMs have been created. However, employment potential has remained the same and quality has declined. The pivot was the obsession with results: 80% got jobs within six months, salaries of Rs 6 lakh or more, research citations per faculty, patents filed, startups incubated, and progress on PG/PhD path.

The way HECI gave the money was based on 40% earning/employability, 30% research/innovation, 20% equity/inclusion (for women, SC/ST and rural seats) and 10% governance/sustainability. Top performers received additional grants, while long-time laggards had to merge or close down. “Zombie” colleges, which had 40% students but no jobs or research, lost their regulatory cover when they got clear dashboards.

Teaching excellence became important. Survival depended on student success, which meant that master teachers were more valuable than typical magazine publishers. Employability is built in: required criteria, a six-month internship with industry mentors, and stackable skills certificates associated with the degree. Data systems became essential tools that tracked alumni’s paths up to five years after graduation.

India’s target of 50% GER by 2035 requires quality, not just seats. 100 to 200 weak mergers are expected from 2026 to 2028, funding for stars is doubled and NIRF ranking results are expected to move towards. Those institutions which do not pay attention to this will disappear.

setting the stage for the future

The author is Co-Founder and CEO of Kalvium, an ed-tech company that focuses on outcomes in higher education institutions.