Professional education systems play a major role in the development of any society and its economy. Within the Education 2030 Agenda, UNESCO supports Member States in building knowledge-based economies, which provide sustainable employment opportunities and good standards of living for all.

Professional education strategies not only reiterate the values shared by the education system stakeholders, they provide a “health-check” of the system, compare its performance against others and particularly those that are well-performing, communicates goals and future orientations, and expresses political commitments to advancement in this field.

Over the last two decades, quality assurance, research and innovation in professional education has gained significant momentum worldwide. Major drivers for this momentum include: increased public demand for better performance of professional education institutions, widening of access and a clear call from stakeholders for greater efficiency and accountability, the need for better quality graduates to drive national economies, better use of public resources for professional education and increasing cross-border provisions.

Challenges include: a mismatch between professional education graduate skills and those demanded by the labour market and industry, an imbalance between the number of students studying management and those in arts-based courses, and the proliferation of private providers.

For this reason, UNESCO and its Member States are building capacity for quality assurance in Higher & Professional education, particularly in developing countries like India. This involves putting in place and/or strengthening appropriate quality assurance systems and regulatory frameworks with the involvement of all the stakeholders.

National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and National Board of Accreditation (NBA) have designed ranking and rating methods for accrediting programs as well as Institutions/ Universities for enhancing global quality standards in education. The compliance with specific norms is mandatory for all i.e. autonomous universities, deemed universities and other institutions for quality sustenance. The culture of research and innovation is being cultivated by various statutory bodies through provisions made for research project grants and boosting consultancy. Introduction of ‘Smart India Hackathon’ and the ‘Innovation Cell’ by AICTE are few steps in this direction. A specific National Policy on Skill Development launched by the Government of India also aims at honing the pragmatic knowledge and skills of the students to grab better employment opportunities in today’s competitive corporate world. Quality Enhancement in Higher Educational Institutions is an unending journey towards excellence.

Professional education is central to socio-economic development, and vital to competitiveness in an increasingly globalizing world. The principles guiding the Education 2030 Agenda: “Towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all underscores the importance of establishing robust quality assurance systems to address the above challenges. To this end, UNESCO supports national policies to improve quality assurance and in order to do so engage with policymakers, educationalists, quality assurance professionals and other regulatory bodies and stakeholders.