Stanford University

The world has recently witnessed a great Economic Recession of all times. This Global Economic Turmoil had a negative effect on all sectors and businesses. But, in these times of economic recession, there were few business areas which were able to not only sustain their existing growth rate, but were also able to accelerate it; Education being one of the most prominent among them.

What they are?

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an 8,180-acre (3,310 ha) campus located near Palo Alto, California. Leland Stanford, a Californian railroad tycoon and politician, founded the university in 1891 in honor of his son, Leland Stanford, Jr., who died of typhoid two months before his 16th birthday. The university is organized into seven schools including academic schools of Humanities and Sciences and Earth Sciences as well as professional schools of Business, Education, Engineering, Law, and Medicine.

History
Concept of opening the University started on 1st Oct, 1891 by Leland Stanford after 6 years of planning and building.
In the following years after 1906, Stanford opened professional schools of medicine, business, engineering, education and law. In 1934 after the world war II, alumni volunteers formed "Stanford Associates" to raise money for the university and ensure the development of its programs and facilities. From then on, Stanford alumni would play a key role in maintaining the universitys expansion and improvement. In 1939, with the encouragement of their professor and mentor, Frederick Terman, Stanford alumni David Packard and William Hewlett established a little electronics company in a Palo Alto garage. That garage would later be dubbed "the Birthplace of Silicon Valley." In 1947, professor William W. Hansen unveiled an electron linear accelerator prototype, and the following year construction began on a new Microwave Laboratory. In 1947, professor William W. Hansen unveiled an electron linear accelerator prototype, and the following year construction began on a new Microwave Laboratory.

History
Two of the universitys most iconic scientific institutions were built in the 1960s: the 2-mile-long linear accelerator (SLAC National Laboratory); and the Dish, a 150-foot
diameter radio antenna in the foothills built as a joint venture between the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) and the Air Force. In the early 1970s, professor Vinton Cerf, known as the father of the Internet, developed with a colleague the TCP/IP protocols which would become the standard for Internet communication between computers. In 2006, the university embarked upon an ambitious five-year, $4.3 billion campaign, The Stanford Challenge, to ensure that Stanford continues to educate future leaders and to find solutions to the most pressing global challenges. a new Microwave Laboratory.

Facts and Figures

There
are an estimated 188,385 living Stanford degree holders, including 74,468 undergraduate alumni, 95,236 graduate alumni and 18,681 dual-degree holders. Stanford alumni have started many companies[148] including Hewlett-Packard (William Hewlett and David Packard), Cisco Systems (Sandra Lerner and Leonard Bosack), NVIDIA, SGI, VMware, MIPS Technologies, Yahoo! (Chih-Yuan Yang and David Filo), Google (Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page), Wipro Technologies (Azim Premji), Nike, Gap (Doris Fisher), Logitech, and Sun Microsystems (Vinod Khosla). Stanford's current community of scholars includes: 50 Nobel Prize laureates 137 members of the National Academy of Sciences 95 members of National Academy of Engineering 62 members of Institute of Medicine 258 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 19 recipients of the National Medal of Science 2 recipients of the National Medal of Technology 30 members of the National Academy of Education

Growth Opportunity

India will fall short of real talent by about - 5.3 million Growth of Higher education needed per five year plan 37 % Shortfall in number of seats in colleges required and available - 45 % Creation of 1500 colleges and Universities to reach 15 % GER ( Gross Enrollment Ratio ) by 2015 Increasing capacity of existing IITs and IIMs by 200 % Sharp difference in the no. of PHDs in India and US 67000 PHDs and first class professional in USA compared to 8000 PHDs in India

Hurdles for setting University

Quota
Quota System : India since long has been a following a policy of reservation and quota for certain classes of people with an aim of inclusive education and upliftment of socially backward classes. The FEPs are alien to such concepts and may feel trouble in implementing this, and producing the kind of professionals they are known for.

Low Incomes:
Though India has been developing fast, but it is still on the path of economic development. The per capita income in India is still nowhere in comparison to the western world. In such a situation , we cannot expect a large part of our population to be able to afford the expense of education provided by the FEPs. Subsidies and scholarships may resolve the issue but it may not be possible for the FEPs to provide these facilities. Multilingualism

Multilingualism
There are about 29 languages in India which are spoken by more than a million people. Most of the education in India is carried out in these regional languages. The FEPs would be able to provide education in only one or two most prevalent languages leaving out a large part of prospective clientele.

Profit repatriation
Most of the institutes and universities in India are setup by trusts, societies and charitable companies, where profits are not to be taken out and have to be reinvested. There could be serious issues as these FEPs can prove to be a major revenue earner and start taking back the profits to their native country.

Land and Building

land acquisition is a major issue in India and for setting up any institute or organisation, land is a must. The capex costs of setting a campus in India will mean fees pretty close to those abroad especially since endowment money cannot be used to offset costs.

Environment Mismatch
Going abroad is an education in and of itself. Young Indians prize the opportunity to do so. Most of the Indian students who go or wish to go abroad is because of the overall social and economical environment prevalent there, which is more conducive for a healthy living. This set of people would not enrol for programs in India.

Labour Issues
it would not be feasible to get all the staff from foreign. These FEPs would have to go for local people for most of the jobs. Even If Indian professors are hired, they will want the same salary as the expats for teaching the same course.

Other Issues
So, apart from these primary issues there can be some secondary issues like ; Follow the rule of land, India is nation with substantially different set of rules and regulations as compared to those countries in west. The FEPs need to mandatorily follow the rule of land and hence may feel uncomfortable.

Foreign Education Providers Bill

A step towards formalizing the foreign education in India and providing a conducive atmosphere to make this a win-win situation for Indian students as well as FEPs
Foreign providers to set up Independent colleges which will be treated as deemed universities, offering independent degrees without having to seek affiliation from an Indian university or tying up with one in partnership. Foreign universities will be able to offer degree programmes independently in India. 100% foreign investment will be allowed in the sector No need for FEP colleges to come under the UGC supervision, and no need to go through accreditation process but be subject to regular reviews. Proposal to free these FEPs from the ambit of Quota and free education Proposal to create a new category of institutions for the FEPs. Minimum experience of 10 years in the country of origin before entering India. Provide a certificate of accreditation from a reputed body of their own country. No restrictions on fees from governments side. Scrutiny by central government agencies only for starting a degree program, certificate programs need to registration

What Indian government wants?

They are able to create a healthy competition stimulating the Indian institutions to revamp themselves.
FEPs are ready for long term investment and lend hand in bridging the gap between the demand of quality education and supply form governments side.

FEPs bring with them students from other parts of the world as well, making India more prominent in the world education map. FEPs help in making India a regional and gradually an international hub of modern education.

How to handle government interventions and regulations which could come in their way while providing world class education How can they ensure that the quality of education is maintained and brand value is protected when expanding globally How they can attract and maintain a good mix of students in their campuses

How to design course structure and content which will be of maximum benefit to all the stakeholders How to remain profitable while adopting a low cost model which suits local needs How to establish a mutually benefiting long term relationship with the local partner with both parties contributing according to their strengths

Strategy
Key focus areas:

Actively engaging all the stakeholders including local partners, accrediting bodies Devising the course structure to maximize utilization of foreign & local faculty and resources Cost model & structure to attract quality mix of student talent The ones who adopt an innovative solution to address the challenges is likely to do well

Strategy Cont.

Cultural Aspect
Command over English among students should not be a problem in higher education Pedagogical approach generally employed in Indian classrooms centers around lecturing by the instructor and memorization and repetition on the part of students Asking students to suddenly go from sitting passively listening to engaging in active class discussion and debating with their colleagues and instructors can take students and instructors far out of their comfort zone Be aware of differences within the educational systems. For example, the quality assurance process and the way universities are run can be different. Gaining an understanding of the educational system operates is crucial.

Strategy
FEPs Bill
It is appreciated that to ensure long term commitment from the foreign educational institution, the bill has insisted on an undertaking to maintain a corpus fund of not less than fifty crore rupees. The task of regulation of the entry and operation of foreign educational institution into India is a task with immense responsibilities. The bill does not define degree or diploma or explicitly state if the degree of diploma awarded by the Foreign education provider will be considered a degree / diploma awarded by the foreign university or by the Indian institution set up under the proposed Act. Application process of the foreign educational institutions. The complete application, scrutiny and the notification process of the foreign educational institutions be made public to encourage transparency. Mechanism to provide feedback on the Foreign education providers be made which can then be periodically analysed. This analysis can then form a basis to prescribe norms / amend the Act. Does India have the necessary infrastructure that would be needed for

Strategy
FEPs Bill

Does India have the necessary infrastructure that would be needed. Faculty could be paid dollar salaries that can be repatriated Some portion of the revenues generated should be allowed for repatriation to the parent university for enhancing their infrastructure at home. Indian alumni to donate to their campus in India and encourage them to play a role in the management of the institution in India. Consider setting up such branch campuses in the proposed (or to be planned) SEZs , specially reserved as special education zones. These can have the normal benefits provided in the special economic zones, involving tax incentives etc. Possibilities of active interface with Indian universities. collaborative partnerships among universities is crucial if entry of foreign service providers is based on the assumption that they will raise the quality bar of at least a select number of universities in the country.

Strategy Cont.
Attracting Foreign Students

Exposure in an emerging market could be an attraction for business and management students. Lower cost is another attraction Students may not be willing to do the entire program in India as they will be apprehensive about the quality, limited job opportunities and difficulties in relocation Quality of life, food habits, course content and course structure can hold them back from taking such a decision Access to world class research facilities existing in India can drive them to come to India Fresh enrolment of international students in domestic varsities was at 13,267 in 2004-05 and at 14,456 in 2005-06. This shows that inflow is too low considering the outflow