States must take the lead in driving the next phase of higher education reforms in India, Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India Dr Anantha Nageswaran said at the CII World Higher Education Summit in New Delhi on Tuesday. He emphasized that the responsibility for translating national policy intent into results on the ground rests largely with state governments.

Addressing the summit on 17 December, Dr Nageswaran outlined key priorities for reform and called for a shift in the role of states from “control to management” in higher education governance. He emphasized the urgent need to address teacher shortages through flexible mechanisms such as practice teachers, while advocating a move away from input-based regulation to output-based frameworks. An entrepreneurial approach to public administration and differentiated funding of institutions, based on their roles and performance outcomes, were also highlighted as critical to improving quality and accountability.

The Chief Economic Adviser underlined the importance of deeper industry engagement across the higher education ecosystem. Industry involvement in co-designing curriculum, for-credit internships, applied research, shared infrastructure and institutional governance can significantly improve relevance and employability, he said. Dr Nageswaran noted that sustained collaboration between the Centre, states, industry and citizens is essential for India to move from ladder to leadership and position itself as a global hub of learning, research and ideas.

He noted that the current moment offers a rare opportunity for ambitious reform due to four converging factors. These include India’s demographic and economic turning point, structural changes in global higher education that create space for new destinations, rapid technological advances that enable education at scale, and the policy foundation already in place through the National Education Policy 2020. Together, he said, these factors call for focused execution and institutional courage to deliver lasting reform.