January 2, 2006

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WaPo global-issues rockstar Sebastian Mallaby goes to India and finds the market for private education — K12 and college alike — absolutely booming. For instance:

What’s made this engineering takeoff possible is not an increase in the supply of universities financed by taxpayers or foreign donors; it’s an increase in demand for education from fee-paying students — a demand to which entrepreneurs naturally respond. More than four out of five Indian engineering students attend private colleges, whose potential growth seems limitless. In 2003 the Vellore Institute of Technology received 7,000 applications. In 2005 it received 44,000.

Mallaby’s analysis: Conventional wisdom is that education leads to development, but it looks like the arrow points the other way, as well. Okay, maybe that’s not so surprising, but still.

Also: Saheli’s in India!