A survey was conducted on the "Perception of Quality in Higher Education," by Clare Chua in 2004, in an attempt to the understand the psyche of all the stakeholders/customers of the education sector. The findings of this study indicated Parents view quality as relating to input (e.g. ranking of the schools, reputations) and output (e.g. employability, academic placement). On the other hand, students saw quality as relating to the educational process (e.g. courses and teaching) and outputs. Faculty members perceived quality as relating to the whole education system (i.e. input, process and output). Employers saw quality as primarily related to the output (e.g. the skill set that the student brings to the workplace).

The study of Input-Process-Output is an entry point into the future of quality assessment. This study plays up a fundamental issue with our education sector - the feedback system. A comprehensive feedback system needs to be established to understand the gap between the deliverables of the institution and the requirements of all the consumers, not just the industry. This will enable majority of the institutions in the country to cease functioning as family run business operate as ever evolving centers of excellence.

This issue of Higher Education Review presents the 2nd edition of Private Engineering Colleges Survey. In this second edition, we have ranked Engineering Colleges by combining the scores of a perception survey with the addition of a factual survey, which is based on the data inputs provided by the institutes. In this survey, we have found the best engineering colleges in the country with capability of producing next-gen technocrats.

The cover story features Mody University, where an inspiring story about of how Shradha Suhane, an alumnus of Mody University, championed the shortcomings of the society, to become the CEO of Vidhyapeeth Group of Institutions, and be awarded "Woman Entrepreneur of the Year," with what she learned at her alma mater.