"Almost 700 years ago, India dominated the scene of higher education not for one decade or two, but for 1,500 years, from the days of Taxila in the third century BC till the collapse of the Nalanda in 12th century. India like a magnet attracted mighty minds from Greece, China, Persia and far off places,"

"It is not as if the country lacked in talent - in contemporary period, Indians who studied from Punjab University (Hargobind Khurana), Madras University (S. Chandrasekhar), Calcutta University (Amartya Sen) have won the Nobel Prize but unfortunately they were recognized when they were recognized outside India."

"Despite having over 650 universities ad 33,000 colleges, the higher education enrolment ratio at just seven per cent is far lower than developed countries like US (34 per cent) and Germany (21 per cent)."

 

 President Pranab Mukherjee speaking  at the diamond jubilee celebrations of the   K.C. College  ,mumbai