Why India's Universities Underperform on Research
The affiliation system and grant structures, not just funding, suppress the research the economy needs.
India has about 1,100 universities and 43,000 degree colleges — by one measure the world's largest higher-education system — and produces roughly 35,000 doctoral graduates a year. Yet its share of globally cited research, international patents and top-tier journal representation remains disproportionately small.
The usual explanations — funding, curriculum, equipment — are not wrong, but they are symptoms. Treating symptoms, as most reforms do, will not deliver the transformation the economy needs.
Key Points
- India has the largest higher-education system but modest research output.
- The affiliation model orients colleges toward exams, not knowledge creation.
- Grant funding favours senior academics over early-career researchers.
- Early-career researchers globally produce the most disruptive work.
- Structural reform, not cosmetic ranking fixes, is required.
The Affiliation System
India's dominant model is the affiliating university — a single examining body with hundreds or thousands of affiliated colleges. Its primary function becomes setting and grading exams rather than creating knowledge, and faculty incentives point toward examination performance, not research.
The fix is structural: separate examination and research functions, empower degree-granting colleges to build their own academic identities, and let research-active faculty advance through publication and grants rather than the examination hierarchy.
Scale versus output
| Indicator | Reality |
|---|---|
| Universities | About 1,100 |
| Degree colleges | About 43,000 |
| Doctoral graduates/year | About 35,000 |
| Globally cited research | Disproportionately low |
Risk Aversion in Grants
The second obstacle is grant architecture. Public research funding, routed mainly through bodies like the Science and Engineering Research Board, skews toward established academics via mechanisms that reward prestige and prior publications over novelty. Early-career researchers — who globally produce the most creative work — get a chronically small share.
A dedicated early-career fund with light-touch administration, anonymous peer review and a mandate for high-risk, high-reward proposals would correct this. The return — in innovation and soft power — exceeds almost any comparable education spend, and complements school-level gains under the National Education Policy and ambitions like the 6G patent target.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is India's research output low despite its scale?
Structural causes — the affiliation model and risk-averse grants — not just funding shortfalls.
What is the affiliation system?
A model where one university examines thousands of colleges, prioritising exams over research.
Who is underfunded in the grant system?
Early-career researchers, who receive a chronically inadequate share.
What reform is proposed?
Separating exam and research functions and creating a dedicated early-career research fund.
Why does this matter economically?
Research drives innovation, patents and long-term soft power.
Sources
- Higher-education statistics on universities and colleges
- Science and Engineering Research Board