This is a very interesting piece by Sanjeev Sanyal, who is an Indian economist, who is a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister.
Ask yourself the following questions: Is there a need to spend four years on a university campus to attend lectures that are freely accessible online? Does the same lecture need to be delivered by thousands of professors every year when everyone can see it on YouTube, at their own convenience? The world’s best lecture on a topic can be uploaded once, and AI tools can handle most questions. This may not work entirely for primary school education where face-to-face hand-holding will still be needed, and for fields where hands-on experience is essential (say medicine); perhaps also where knowledge is still evolving (say at Masters or PhD level). However, a mostly online system of imparting knowledge and skills can work for most undergraduate-level subjects.
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So, what will legacy universities do? They should re-orient themselves to research and the design of better testing and certification systems. Start-up hubs and innovation co-location will create a place for the churn of ideas. The shift in emphasis from the drudgery of lecturing to the expansion of knowledge and innovation could transform Indian academia.
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For institutions that opt for hybrid teaching systems, the same student facilities can be leveraged for a much larger throughput. For instance, if a batch only comes in for three months a year, then the same facility can now serve four times the number of students.
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The above shift is coming whether or not we like it. Many elements of the model already exist. India should embrace this new approach as the primary mode for scaling up rapidly. Indeed, digital education makes it possible to provide a high-quality degree in most subjects available freely to all citizens.
My 2-cents
One of the biggest reasons for our massive underperformance by our Country in so many metrics when compared to developed economies in the last 75 years can be attributed to the way our education system is structured. these recent advancements in AI may eventually prove out to be a blessing in disguise for our Education sector as points mentioned by Mr.Sanyal makes sense and forward looking. Access to quality education ought to be a fundamental right for all of us and innovations that can arise out of these changes can lead to massive changes in the way our country and Economy shapes out to be in the future.