Dilip Thakore interviewed Dr. Ranjan Pai, managing director and chief executive of the Manipal Education and Medical Group Pvt. Ltd (estb. 2000) — the holding company of 43 education institutions with an aggregate enrolment of 300,000 students  and 47 healthcare institutions including 16 hospitals in India and abroad, in his office in Bangalore.  Excerpts from the 90-minute interview: 

Why has MEMG ventured abroad when there is huge unfulfilled demand for higher education in India?
Procedures and processes for approval and clearance of greenfield projects in higher education projects are very slow and cumbersome. On the other hand, perhaps because of the excellent reputation Manipal University and our higher education institutions abroad have acquired for delivering high quality affordable education, we have been receiving numerous invitations to establish professional education institutions overseas. So we go where there is demand for our services. But this doesn’t mean that we aren’t expanding in India as well. Our growth within the country will accelerate as soon as the liberalisation intent of the Central and state governments translates into policies which encourage private initiatives in education. We are very conscious that many initiatives in higher education are needed within the country. 

What are MEMG’s growth and development plans within India?
Manipal University, Jaipur which will attain a capacity of 20,000 students in 2020 has already admitted its first batch of students last July/August. Moreover a proposal to establish a Manipal University branch campus in Bangalore has just been cleared by the Karnataka government. A medical college in Jharkhand and a university in eastern India are in advanced stages of planning with the Bangalore and Jharkhand medical colleges the top priorities. 

All of MEMG’s new projects in India and abroad are capital intensive and require considerable financial engineering. What’s your modus operandi?
The advantage of establishing education institutions abroad is that long term finance is relatively easily available, interest rates are low and students’ tuition fees are substantially higher. For our projects in India because long term finance is scarce and interest rates are higher, we tend to keep borrowals low and avail long term low interest loans and grants from the MAHE Trust. Our modus operandi is to maintain a 2:1 debt-equity ratio.

Despite the excellent reputation of Manipal University in India and abroad for medical and engineering education, the university isn’t highly ranked in the India today or QS and THE World University Rankings. What’s your comment?
Manipal University is routinely ranked among India’s Top 10 medical universities by India Today, Outlook and Times of India among other reputed publications. We haven’t been ranked by international rating agencies because of registration problems. However this year we have completed all registration formalities and will be ranked next year by QS. But rankings apart, it’s incontrovertible that over the past 60 years, MU has built itself a rock-solid nationwide reputation for delivering high quality medical, dental, engineering and business management education. This is testified by the 106,000 applications the university receives against the 5,800 seats we offer annually. 

Several major bills — ncher, foreign education institutions etc — for restructuring higher education are pending passage in Parliament. How conducive is the regulatory environment for private initiatives in higher education?
There is growing enthusiasm for private initiatives in higher education given that the Union government has set a national goal to double GER (gross enrolment ratio) in higher education to 30 percent by the year 2020.  However in the current climate of suspicion about widespread corruption in government, HRD and health ministry officials at the Centre and in the states are wary about taking quick decisions and granting clearances to private sector proposals.

But it’s important for them to realise that we aren’t asking for special favours. All we need is clear policies and encouragement for private initiatives in education to supplement government efforts and institutions. Fortunately, an excellent new team of ministers has been inducted into the Union HRD ministry recently, of whom we have great hopes. 

By global and even Asian standards, primary, secondary and higher education in India compares unfavourably. How optimistic are you about the future of Indian education?
Indian universities are essentially teaching rather than research institutions. Therefore they don’t do well in global ranking league tables. Our priorities are different and we tend to assess higher education institutions in terms of learning and career outcomes. For instance we derive considerable satisfaction from the fact that over 20,000 Manipal University graduates outside India are doing very well in their chosen vocations and professions.

I am optimistic about Indian education because we are moving in the right  direction. Philanthropy is coming back into education in a big way and government and society are enthusiastically embracing new technologies — likely to prove a great leveller — in education. This is the cause of my optimism.