Pune, Nov 26 (IANS): President Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday called for deepening the involvement of the private sector in education and said universities such as Harvard, Yale and Stanford have "evolved out of private sector initiatives".

"A sweeping up-gradation of India's higher education sector calls for deepening of private sector involvement. Leading global universities such as Harvard, Yale and Stanford have evolved out of private sector initiative," he said at the convocation ceremony of Symbiosis International University here.

According to an official release, Mukherjee said India's private sector is engaged in several key areas such as health, transport and financial services. Private institutions play an important role in the education sector too as they account for nearly 60 percent of the total enrolment at the tertiary level.

In view of the existing disparity in the educational standards of the private system, measures are, therefore, necessary to ensure better service delivery, benchmarks and excellence, the release said.

The president said seats of higher learning like Nalanda, Takshashila, Vikramashila, Valabhi, Somapura and Odantapuri attracted scholars from around the world.

However, today, around two lakh bright Indian students go abroad each year, he said.

He expressed concern over the trend of brain drain, and said there is a need for "introspection as to how we can bring our centres of higher learning back into the fold of leading institutions in the world".

He also called upon Symbiosis University to take active part in the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, a programme about adopting villages and transforming them into model villages.