University townships can link students to industrial and logistics corridors

India now stands at a turning point. Over the past decade, its education system expanded at scale. The country now hosts one of the world’s largest higher-education systems. The Economic Survey, 2025-26 underlines a clear pivot. India has expanded access. So the next priority is improving learning outcomes and quality at scale, while keeping inclusion central.

In this context, let us examine the Union Budget’s proposal to support States through a challenge route. The proposal aims to create five university townships near major industrial and logistics corridors. The Budget describes these as planned academic zones. They will host multiple universities, research institutions, skill centres, and residential complexes. Let us not treat this proposal as another “infrastructure announcement”. A more relevant view is to see it as a quality-and-relevance intervention. If designed well, it can create an ecosystem that raises learning outcomes, research translation, and employability across the system. The challenge-route design can also reward States for outcomes through shared facilities, internships, and research translation.

The township proposal can help connect education to the real economy. Industrial and logistics corridors create production networks, supplier ecosystems, testing needs, standards, and skill demand. Education must move closer to these networks. When students graduate, they should carry a portfolio of work-ready capabilities. If education interacts with such corridors, both physically and collaboratively, students and faculty can work on real problems, learn modern processes, and build credibility with employers.

Global experience suggests that clusters deliver the best outcomes when they operate as shared platforms for both new and existing institutions. They should not turn into gated islands. This is realistic because India already has reform instruments that encourage mobility and collaboration. The University Grants Commission has established mechanisms, such as the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC), to support credit transfer and flexible learning pathways. The National Credit Framework (NCrF) pushes vertical and horizontal mobility across academic and vocational streams. The Curriculum and Credit Framework for Undergraduate Programmes supports a multidisciplinary structure and multiple entry and exit options. These tools matter because they let students learn across disciplines, earn credits for skills, and gain competence with evidence.

The strongest case for the township proposal lies in what it can do for State universities that already serve large, diverse cohorts. Many of them do not have access to high-end labs, manufacturing lines, and product validation facilities. A well-designed township can “lend” capabilities in practical ways. For example, it can host shared facilities that neighbouring universities can access. These facilities can operate through scheduled access, transparent pricing, and joint supervision models.

Workplace training with degrees

The UGC’s Apprenticeship Embedded Degree Programme (AEDP) guidelines offer another pathway. They allow structured integration of workplace training within degrees. Townships along corridors can easily implement AEDP. With industry partners operating nearby, universities and firms can co-design training and assessment.

A township can also run “problem banks” where firms and public agencies announce challenges. Student teams and faculty groups can solve them for credit, thesis work, or capstone projects. The UGC encourages the recruitment of professionals into academia as professors of practice (PoP). In a corridor-linked township, they can offer credit based micro-credentials on systems engineering, supply-chain analytics, safety standards, and regulatory issues. Students understand these topics best when they learn them alongside real systems and constraints.

Global innovation systems show that proximity helps when institutions align incentives and open pathways. Research Triangle Park in the U.S. is widely recognised for linking universities, firms, and research organisations to accelerate collaboration and the flow of talent. Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Germany connects industry needs in engineering and manufacturing with translational labs and academic strengths. One-north innovation district and the Jurong Innovation District in Singapore have planned clusters that can co-locate universities, research institutes, start-ups, and industry.

India requires skilled people, innovative processes, and robust quality systems to achieve manufacturing competitiveness. Competitiveness depends on testing, standards, certification, and reliable supply chains, along with talent. The Budget speech has also highlighted how the external environment can disrupt supply chains and how new technologies reshape production. In that setting, India must develop engineers, technicians, designers, and researchers who understand real-world production constraints. Corridor-linked university townships can help realise that objective.

The Economic Survey notes more than 1,100 universities and over 4.3 crore learners in higher education. Scale is no longer the constraint but outcomes are. That is why our universities should ensure that education aligns with India’s broader economic direction. India needs high-quality manufacturing in semiconductors, electronics, clean energy components, biotech manufacturing, and advanced materials. We can meet this need only when we train people in environments that reflect real-world standards, yield improvements, and deliver on time-to-market.

Expanding access

A corridor-based township can be designed in a balanced manner. To align with the inclusion goals of NEP 2020, townships can expand access for students from state universities and rural districts. Students can gain exposure through credit-based short programmes, bridge courses, and subsidised lab access. Without safeguards, corridor clusters can unintentionally favour better-resourced institutions and urban learners. States can address this by reserving a share of township lab time and internships for state-university students through transparent, merit-based access. The UGC’s reform direction emphasises flexibility supported by clear frameworks (ABC, NCrF, and credit-and-curriculum frameworks). Townships and universities should work together to amplify that reform logic.

What India needs today is a working model that enhances quality while sustaining inclusion. The design must protect autonomy, avoid metric-chasing, and keep student welfare central.

The Budget’s proposal for five corridor-linked university townships has come at the right time. If we execute this model well, India can move from access-led expansion to quality-led outcomes. In the process, we can turn education into a direct enabler of manufacturing strength, innovation capacity, and resilient supply chains. Exactly this capability stack can help India advance toward Viksit Bharat, 2047.

Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar is Chairman of the Review Committee for NEP 2020 of the Union Education Ministry and former UGC Chairman. Views expressed are personal.

Published – February 11, 2026 12:20 am IST