A report by E&Y and FICCI estimates the spend on higher education to be close to Rs 46, 200 crore. This is projected to grow to Rs 150,000 crore in the next 10 years, reflecting an average growth rate of 12.8 percent. As India has a young population, it is clear that this market size is just the tip of the iceberg, and this market has still a lot of upward potential to grow.
In such a big market, both domestic and global vendors are naturally keen to exploit growth opportunities. A case in point is SunGard Higher Education, a division of SunGard, a leading global software and technology services provider. The firm believes that the potential is huge, as a major percentage of institutions in the higher education space do not use technology to the optimum.
“Our strategy for India is to work with institutes that are forward looking and have a vision of becoming truly world class in the future. In our experience we have found that these institutes are more open to change and adoptionof new technologies. At the moment we are focusing on top business schools including IIMs, large private universities and institutes of national importance such as IITS and NITs,” says Vinod John, Senior Director (Sales) at SunGard Higher Education.
Traditionally institutes in the Higher Education space look at technology to help manage the more traditional back office business processes such as financial accounting, payroll and inventory and so on and provide lab facilities to students. While these are important, John believes that institutions must look at using technology to deliver more learning content and services to students. Technology must also aid in enabling collaboration with alumni and industry.
Establishing links with alumni is also crucial, as past students can not only be great brand ambassadors, they can also help in contributing funds to boost research activities. “Today, there is a huge drop in research due to lack of funds. Traditionally, most alumni do not contribute back to the institutions they have studied in, as they are not connected. What if there was a simple way to help them connect to the institution?,” asks John.
John says that Indian institutions can unlock huge efficiencies and improve their institutional performance through efficient usage of technology. For example, information technology can not only help in improving processes with respect to learning and teaching, but also in managing the operational aspects of running an institute. “We anticipate another wave of innovation will occur once Indian universities effectively run digital campus environments. At this point, we expect the emphasis to shift to far more personalized learning, with the institution able to adapt and respond to an individual learner’s needs,” opines John.
In India, the firm has customers such as the ‘The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore’ (IIMB). The institution is using SunGard’s Unified Digital Campus (UDC) solution to increase efficiencies in course administration, improve student services, and enhance capabilities for collaboration with institutions in India and abroad.
With a number of global institutions entering the country, the scope for adoption of an integrated solution that manages the entire administration of an educational institute is huge. The growth opportunity can also be envisaged from a recent statement by Union human resource development and information technology minister Kapil Sibal. The honorable minister said that within the next two years, around 700 universities and 26,000 colleges in the country will be connected with the Internet to improve the higher education scenario in the country.
With experience of serving 1,800 universities in 40 different countries, SunGard has a huge opportunity to take a major market share of the higher education segment in India.
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