Mumbai: A fourth of the world's skilled workforce will come from India by the year 2020, prime minister Manmohan Singh said in Guwahati on Tuesday. 

Addressing students at the IIT Guwahati, the prime minister said the government is according top priority to higher education, allocating Rs275,000 crore to the sector.

''Our government's effort has been to create the next wave of investment in higher education. And the 11th Five Year Plan, which is now under implementation, is basically a knowledge investment plan," he said.

''We have significantly increased allocation to the education sector with a five-fold increase to an unprecedented Rs275,000 crore," he said while addressing faculty and students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Guwahati.

The government already has approved eight new IITs, seven IIMs, 16 central universities, 14 world class universities, five IIScs, 10 new NITs, 20 Information Technology Institutes, and 1,000 polytechnics, he added.

''The IIT represent the best of the platters in our country both in terms of the faculty and in terms of students that they attract. The IITs has served our country with great distinction. But I sincerely believe that the best is yet to come,'' he said.

''The IIT represent the best of the platters in our country both in terms of the faculty and in terms of students that they attract. The IITs has served our country with great distinction. But I sincerely believe that the best is yet to come,'' he added.

''India has the potential to create over 500 million trained people by the year 2020. That would be over a fourth of the global workforce. This big and unique opportunity for India will come from an education revolution that we must undertake as our most important national endeavour," he said.

He also called for a partnership with the corporate sector to facilitate higher education. ''We need to work in close partnership with the corporate sector, non-governmental entities and community organisations. We need to facilitate creative partnerships between the public and private sectors in the field of education including higher education," he said.