By Michael B. Horn and Brian Warren

In 2012, the government of India stated that it would need to build 1,000 new universities and an astounding 50,000 new colleges by 2020 to meet expected demand as its population and workforce continued to grow.

With over 750 universities and more than 38,000 colleges today—comparedto roughly 650 universities and 25,000 colleges in 2012—the country looks unsurprisingly unlikely to meet that objective.

And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Surveys and sources suggest many college graduates are unprepared for the workforce. For example, according to the All India Council for Technical Education, a whopping 60 percent of engineering graduates from India’s technical colleges remain unemployed each year.

Instead of replicating systems of higher education found elsewhere, India ought to be taking this opportunity to leapfrog the current state of higher education.