Insights

EdTech growth in Tier 2, 3 cities is projected at 20% by 2025, and as flexible financing becomes standard, access barriers will continue to fall.

In India’s narrative of progress, where gross enrolment in higher education has climbed to 28.4% as of 2021-22, according to All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2021-22, Ministry of Education, nearing the National Education Policy’s targets, the story often spotlights gleaming metros like Delhi and Bengaluru.

But underneath this growth story and on a more subdued level, there exists a divide between the 70% of the population living in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and the access to elite opportunities. The challenge? Not a lack of drive, but entrenched barriers that make quality higher education feel like a distant privilege.

According to the AISHE, enrollment increased from 43.3 million during 2021–22 to an estimated 46.5 million by 2025. For these individuals, participation has been limited by financial constraints and inadequate infrastructure.

The hidden financial burden

Middle-income families where the average household income is ₹5 to ₹10 lakh per year, typically spend between 30% and 40% of their total income to educate just one child; estimated from household surveys. The expense is even greater when taking into account relocation costs and premium guidance for entrance exams, such as JEE or NEET.

According to a 2024 Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad report families in rural areas incur much greater opportunity costs. As a result, many will have to delay or not be able to pursue higher education.

Supplemental learning, such as online upskilling or test prep, adds another layer; platforms report a 32% surge in demand from these cities in 2023 (College Vidya survey, 2023), yet affordability remains elusive, with 43% of scheduled caste, tribe, and Muslim households citing funds as the primary dropout trigger.

The ripple effect? A resource of untapped talent; young individuals in Bhubaneswar or Nagpur who could become great engineers, but instead have chosen to take their local diplomas.

A quiet shift toward decentralisation

Yet, this is no tale of despair, far from it. Educational institutions are changing to provide a pathway to equitable education based on local resources with a global influence.The Indian Institute of Management's analysis from 2024 reported that the number of students from Tier-3 cities migrating to larger cities reduced by 15 percent over the last 5 years because more good-quality higher education options have been coming up closer to home.

Five of India's most respected Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), namely Ropar, Guwahati, Mandi, Patna and Kanpur were pioneers in offering academic tracks in partnerships with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) that permit students in Tier-2 and Tier-3 affiliated colleges to obtain an IIT credential without significant disruption to their lives.

The NSDC-IIT partnership that was introduced for the academic year 2024-25 (partnerships were announced in 2024) has already enrolled more than 5,000 students, combining their core local courses with speciality courses in AI and Data Science.

The 2024 NASSCOM survey confirms this trend, illustrating that employers are now looking to employ approximately 60% of their workforce from this geographical area due to the fact that it is estimated that approximately 35% of advanced engineering talent will be located here by the year 2028.

When outcomes defy geography

What emerges is a fresh inference. Decentralisation isn’t just about access, it’s rearchitecting employability. By embedding hands-on projects with Fortune 500 mentors and assured internship pipelines, elements now standard in over 25 partner colleges across non-metro belts, programs are yielding outcomes that rival metros. Highest salaries touch 26 LPA, with 305 students securing multiple offers in diverse roles, from startups to MNCs.

These transformative outcomes are vividly illustrated through real student journeys, showcasing how accessible edtech and innovative financing models are empowering Tier-2/3 aspirants to achieve metro-level success while staying rooted in their hometowns.

For instance, real-world trajectories illuminate this shift. Take Swastik Gupta from Gaya, Bihar – a Tier-3 enclave where coaching centers are scarce and family incomes hover below ₹6 lakh yearly. In 2025, Mr. Gupta cracked the JEE Main at the 99.40th percentile, crediting edtech platforms.

A new equation of opportunity

Higher education is becoming more democratic, granting Tier-2/3 students access to opportunities once reserved for metro residents. EdTech growth in these cities is projected at 20% by 2025, and as flexible financing becomes standard, access barriers will continue to fall.

Many students from these cities who once planned to study abroad are now choosing domestic education for cultural fit and better ROI. India’s youth dividend is decentralizing, strengthening local economies, reducing brain drain, and proving quality education is not geography dependent.

As Tier-2/3 cities transform from feeders to talent forges, the real bridge is being built in classrooms across Indore and Imphal, where tomorrow’s leaders are already coding their breakthroughs.

Following the tragic death of a 19, year old female student from a local Government Degree College in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has decided to constitute a Fact Finding Committee. The safety of students was stressed as the foremost priority by the UGC. In its statement, the UGC also assured that the culprits will not be spared and that they will be taken to task rigorously. The University Grants Commission has taken serious cognisance of the tragic suicide at the Government Degree College, Dharamsala. It has been decided to constitute a Fact Finding Committee. UGC assures that culprits will not be spared, and stringent action will follow. Student safety is paramount, the UGC said in the statement. The UGC statement came in response to the viral video of a statement of the victim apparently recorded before she died. The UGC statement mentions the word "suicide", but the victim's family has alleged that she was thrashed by three senior students and raped by a college professor.

On 18 September last year, according to an FIR filed by her father, three students (Harshita, Aakriti and Komolika) physically assaulted and threatened his daughter. As per information received from the Police, a Professor (Ashok Kumar) has been accused of making indecent advances toward the victim. My daughter received such serious trauma due to these events that she required hospitalization, which resulted in a delay in filing the FIR. Police were advised by Kumar. During the investigation into these matters, it will be revealed whether the mental and physical health issues of Pallavi were a direct result of the incidents of harassing and threatening, and how they contributed to her physical decline, which led to her death while receiving treatment at Ludhiana, Punjab. A police official stated that a thorough investigation will provide additional information on the connection between the allegations against the above-mentioned individuals and the deterioration of Pallavi's health, leading to her death.

Choosing a university has never been a simple decision for a student  but today it carries more weight than ever before. For students standing at the age of adulthood,this choice is deeply personal .It is not just about classrooms courses or campus life.It is about identity, confidence and the future they imagine for themselves. In a crowded global education landscape students and parents rely on three powerful signals to guide this decision: ranking reputation and visibility. These factors go far beyond marketing. Today they shape how the degree is perceived, how opportunities unfold after graduation and how confident a young professional steps into the world. Together, these factors don’t just influence how the world sees that student after graduation.

Ranking -The first lens that students trust- For most students universities ranking are the starting point. They act as a filter in a sea of choices offering reassurance in a high stake decision. Rankings simplify complex information faculty quality research output ,infrastructure, employability and international exposure into a format that feels comparable and reliable. Students may not analyze ranking methodology in detail but they understand what ranking means , a credibility position in the market. A ranked institution suggests stability  standards and recognition .Parents especially see ranking as a form of risk reduction and external validation that the university meets certain benchmarks of quality.

From a career perspective ranking matters because employers often use them consciously or unconsciously as a shortcut. In  competitive hiring environments a recognized university name can influence shortlisting especially for a graduate’s first job or international opportunities.

Academicians, educationists and policymakers describe how ranking impacts the career of students-  It creates early employer confidence, supports international mobility and higher education pathways. However ranking alone is not enough .Students are increasingly aware that numbers tell only part of the story. 

Reputation - Reputation goes deeper than numbers. For students a university reputation becomes part of professional identity .When they introduce themselves in interviews, networking spaces or global forums, the institutional name carries meaning. Students are increasingly aware that a university’s name become part of their personal brand. A strong reputation signals not only academic quality but also values integrity, leadership innovation and responsibility. Students often look at where alumni are placed, how institutions are spoken about by professionals and how consistently they deliver on promises. In the long run  reputation matters more than ranking. Ranking may fluctuate year to year but reputation follows graduates for decades. 

How Reputation impacts careers- open doors through alumni networks ,enhances credibility in professional circles and builds long term trust with employers and institutions. 

Visibility Being Seen ,Recognised and Trusted - When ranking establishes credibility, reputation builds trust and visibility creates opportunity , students gain more than education they gain direction. Students are strategic today.They understand that the degree is not just a certificate it is the signal to the world. Universities that align all three dimensions help students feel confident not just while studying but while stepping into an uncertain ,competitive future. For students,visibility signals relevance .Institutions that are visible and perceived as active forward thinking and connected to real world opportunities.In a digital age students want to belong to universities that are seen, heard and recognised beyond campus boundaries.

Media Endorsement - Recognition by the fourth Pillar of Society- Media is often called the fourth pillar of society because it shapes public trust and global opinion. When a university is endorsed or recognised by credible media platforms it sends a strong signal that the institution meets accepted standards of quality and credibility .For students this adds an extra layer of confidence showing that the university is valued not only in academic circles but also acknowledged on a broader global platform.

At its heart, choosing a university is an emotional decision wrapped in logic. Students want assurance, belonging and hope. Ranking reassures the mind, reputation comforts the heart and visibility inspires ambition. Universities that recognise this holistic decision making process don’t just recruit students they shape careers, leaders and futures.

The number of histories unrolling before the eyes of lucknow is only unimaginable. The slogans of the nawab and the poet, of resistance and defiance, are slowly carving an imprint of themselves on its genetic structure. The Ganges, just a few kilometers away, is moving steadily southward, watching the birth of a force so undeterred, a supersonic force that is re-writing the skyline, seas, and lands of a nation on the cusp of a global awakening. This is not a production line; this is a crucible factory. Stretching on a massive 200-acre canvas on the outskirts of Lucknow itself is the "India’s most potent conventional weapon—the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile—that is taking shape.”

Development of a Supersonic Citadel

This project was launched in the year 2018 when the state government of Uttar Pradesh offered 200 acres of the most prime land lying on the famous Lucknow Kanpur Highway as a part of the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor (UPDIC). This was an Indian-Russian joint venture company being managed by BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited (BAPL), a collaboration venture of Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), an organization of India, and a Russia-based firm named NPO Mashinostroyeniya. They had already maximized their production capacity in their units set up in Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Pilani, and Nagpur. They had demands pouring from their Indian customers – requirements from their Indian navy for more missiles capable of attacking ships and submarines alike from a distance, their forty Sukhoi Su-30MKI aircraft were modifying their arsenal with “Air Launched” BrahMos, their land attack models varying from longer distances, and most importantly from export sales signed and sealed agreements/intents.

The first battery was already received by the Philippines in 2024 under a 375 million USD contract. Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Argentina, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and UAE were at varying levels of negotiations. For BrahMos Aerospace, there were already firm sales contracts in excess of 800 missiles in the next five years. These could not be handled by the current production facilities.

Built at an estimated cost of Rs380 crores, this new campus is an oasis within an oasis, boasting gigantic integration halls, a booster production facility, warhead mating facility, high-speed sled validation facility for subsystem validation, and an environment-sheltered pre-dispatch inspection bay that looks and feels more like it is used in preparing a space-craft rather than for making weapons.

Every single variation of Brahmos series – from the original 290 km range applicable to land and sea mobiles to its range-enhanced variants of 600 km range and the lean Brahmos-NG in development – will stem out of here.

Inauguration and production

And to begin this year itself, that is, from May 11, defence chief Rajnath Singh also virtualised the inauguration of this very facility, which has been termed the ‘crown jewel of the UP Defence Industrial Corridor.’ The birth of this entity has been for the attainment of a single, major motivational factor—to be the ‘center of all activities pertaining to the rising demand for the BrahMos system.’

“A state-of-the-art BrahMos Integration & Testing Facility has been established in Lucknow to cater to the growing demands for BrahMos in the domestic market, as well as the international market. Its proximity to the national freight corridors, which can be considered its strategic location, ensures that the power created here can be easily conveyed to the borders,” according to an official source.

On October 18, the defence minister, in the presence of the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath, the department of defence R&D, and the chairman of DRDO Samir V Kamat, and the DG of Brahmos Jaytirth R Joshi, rolled out the first wave of the missile to the Indian Armed Forces, and that marked the advent of an entirely different era altogether. For so many years, the manufacturing of defence equipment had been regarded as something that only the traditional coastal industrial belts were capable of.

The campus has been set up at an estimated cost of Rs 380 crores and has been described as a “city within a city” since it is almost totally integrated. An environmentally controlled pre-dispatch inspection bay (clean room equivalent) “The plan is to develop and help not only different variants of the BrahMos system but the traditional one with a range of 290 km and the BrahMos-NG, which is under development.

There are around 300 to 500 direct employees in BrahMos Aerospace in Lucknow, but when it comes to trickle-down effects, it is nothing short of astonishing. Here's an excerpt from an article published in The Sunday Times of India, with an explanation by an eminent BrahMos official: “A missile is a complex system requiring, inter alia, industries, specialized materials, chemicals, rubber, electronics, mechanical subsystems, precision machining, and welding, and so on. BrahMos has, as of now, partnerships with over 200 different private and public sector companies in India for supplies of missile system components, sub-assemblies, COTS, and specialized fixtures.”

In 1914, Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan arrived at Cambridge with a notebook containing 17 extraordinary infinite series for 1/π. They were not only efficient but also yielded accurate digits of the world's most famous irrational number. Yet, despite these formulas long being considered the pinnacle of number theory, no one could actually explain for a century why they worked so perfectly.

But researchers now at the Indian Institute of Science have found an unlikely bridge between Ramanujan's celebrated formulas for pi and the cutting-edge physics behind black holes and turbulent fluids. The research implies that Ramanujan was unwittingly working on the very mathematics that describes how matter behaves on the verge of extreme change.

Ramanujan's spectacular formulas for π

Before taking off for Cambridge from Madras in the year of 1914, Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan published one paper listing 17 formulas that were used in the calculation of pi. The formulas proved conspicuous because they were far more efficient compared to the methods at the time. Surprisingly, using only a few terms in mathematics, it could generate a colossal amount of correct digits of pi.

More than a century later, their influence remains strong. Ramanujan's ideas constitute the bedrock of modern techniques that are used to compute pi on powerful computers today. "Scientists have computed pi up to 200 trillion digits using an algorithm called the Chudnovsky algorithm," says Aninda Sinha, professor at the Centre for High Energy Physics (CHEP) and senior author of the study. "These algorithms are actually based upon Ramanujan's work."

A deeper question behind the mathematics

For Sinha and Faizan Bhat, the study's first author and a former PhD student at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), the interest was not just in how fast these formulae work. They wanted to understand why such powerful formulas exist at all. Instead of looking at them as purely abstract mathematics, the researchers sought a connection with the physical world.

“We wanted to see whether the starting point of his formulas fit naturally into some physics,” says Sinha. “In other words, is there a physical world where Ramanujan’s mathematics appears on its own?”

Where pi meets scale invariance and extreme physics

Their study brought them to a class of theories called conformal field theories and, particularly to logarithmic conformal field theories. These are theories describing systems with scale invariance, meaning that the system is the same no matter at what scale one observes it, whether zooming in or out.

A well-known example is water at its critical point, a specific temperature and pressure where liquid water and water vapour become indistinguishable. At this point, water shows scale-invariant behaviour which can be described using conformal field theory. Similar behaviour appears in processes such as percolation, the early stages of turbulence in fluids, and in certain theoretical descriptions of black holes. These are all areas where logarithmic conformal field theories are used.

Using Ramanujan’s structure to solve physics problems The researchers have now found that the same mathematical structure underlying Ramanujan's pi formulas also crops up in the equations of these logarithmic conformal field theories: by exploiting this shared structure, they could compute key quantities in these theories more easily. It may help scientists study better some real complex phenomena, like turbulence and percolation. The approach here mirrors closely enough Ramanujan's own style, wherein compact mathematical expressions lead quckly to precise results. "[In] any piece of beautiful mathematics, you almost always find that there is a physical system which actually mirrors the mathematics, says Bhat. "Ramanujan's motivation might have been very mathematical, but without his knowledge, he was also studying black holes, turbulence, percolation, all sorts of things." A century-old insight of current significance "The study shows that Ramanujan's work, completed over a century ago, still provides new tools for making modern high-energy physics calculations faster and easier. Beyond the technical benefits, the researchers say the findings underline the extraordinary depth of his ideas. "We were simply mesmerised with the fact that a genius who worked in early 20th century India, completely cut off from all contact with modern physics, could actually have anticipated structures which are now at the core of our knowledge concerning the universe", says Sinha.

In this age characterized by a fast pace of technological advancements, the world is finding out the true value of humanities. Although programming skills, analytical skills, and technological acumen are in great demand, it’s the so-called “soft skills” of creativity, empathy, critical thinking, and communications skills that are being identified as forces behind success in this era.

These are the qualities that are instilled through the humanities education that one receives, and their relevance has become even more apparent in the current scenario.

The Human Edge in the Digital World

The modern workplace is no longer solely focused on automation through technology; it also focuses on people-their interactions, their ability to adapt to new situations, their problem-solving capabilities in group situations. While technology automates tasks through artificial intelligence, it also enhances human capabilities of imagination, empathy, and ethical reasoning.

The Humanities, which include fields like literature, philosophy, and history, not only prepare us to view the world through different prisms but also to challenge our assumptions.

“With technology advancing at an unprecedented scale, it’s the soft skills that matter most and the ones which are inculcated because of humanity: creativity, empathy, analytical skills, and communication. These are not just nice-to-haves, they are essential for problem-solving, innovation, and succeeding in today’s rapidly changing world,” Nirmit Parikh, founder of Apna.co, added.

“We can grow well-rounded individuals equipped and ready to face the challenges of this modern age and erect a brighter future by embracing what makes education in humanities so valuable in equipping us in thought, feeling, and acting with richness,” he further said in emphasizing the worth of education in humanities.

Humanities: The Roots of Real-world Problem-Solving

Reflect on the issues that are facing today’s society. These include climate change, mental crises, AI technology issues in terms of ethics, and wars around the globe. These are issues that cannot be solved by technology alone. They need people who are capable of critical thinking, able to communicate across cultures, and are able to make informed decisions using their knowledge of ethics.

“Humanities are critical to living a fulfilled life and an integral part of being a success as a professional or a human being. Many a time, I have come across highly educated and supremely skilled persons who lack the ability to handle other humans and

“In today’s rapidly changing, tech-infused world, we are beginning to grasp that emotional intelligence, empathy, ethical reasoning, and a ability to work through human complexity are not soft skills, but are, in fact, fundamental skills. As a psychologist, I watch individuals wrestle deeply not because they lack technical knowledge, but because they cannot work through emotions, conflict, and meaning-making that impact work and relationships.”

“Humanities subjects such as literature, philosophy, history, and psychology teach our minds to question, reflect, and relate. An education in the humanities develops enriched emotional understanding, analytical skills, and moral acumen—all essential skills in any field, whether business or government, or in the technologies or the healing professions.”

A humanities education teaches more than how to do a job; it teaches how to think about the human experience, how to listen more effectively, and how to act more thoughtfully in a world of uncertainties and diverse populations.

“With the world facing challenges like mental health crises and AI ethics, it’s even more apparent that we require people who are capable of thinking outside of algorithms and empathizing outside of data sets. This is the era of revolutions in which the humanities have to regain its fundamental position in determining not only our profession but our humane future as well.”

HUMANITIES IN ACTION

The world of business is paying attention. The leading companies of the world are now looking for leaders who can inspire, lead in conditions of uncertainty, and build inclusive cultures. The healthcare professional with an ethics and psychology background is now better suited to interact with the patient in a better manner. The technologist who is able to connect coding and human need is the best innovator.

Universities are adapting to these issues by trying to include courses that are a part of the humanities curriculum as a supplement to their STEM courses. Moreover, new policies regarding education are recognizing that a balanced curriculum is important, as it should result in generations that not only have technical know-how, expertise, and skill, but also an emotional as well as an ethical foundation. Looking to the future, the message is clear: the humanities are not something we can afford to indulge occasionally. Rather, they are something we need. It is the humanities that are the starting place for the development of successful lives and the creation of a compassionate world. It is time for the humanities to shine, and for us to understand their power. 

Today, leading technology companies are colluding with the humanities department to create training sessions on empathy and decision-making for their AI staff. The increasing collaboration among technology companies and the humanities department highlights that the future belongs to those who will master technology with the wisdom that the humanities have achieved.