New Delhi, Jan 7 (IANS) Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal Friday called for "collaboration" from the Indian diaspora in building the education sector and invited them back to the land of "new opportunities".

Speaking at the inaugural session of the ninth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) in the capital, Sibal said collaboration from the Indian diaspora in the Indian education sector was important so that the country reaches its true potential.

India has a 25 million strong diaspora in 130 countries.

"The most important collaboration will be from the Indian diaspora who had gone away from India to look for opportunities and can come back now to this land of new opportunities," he said.

According to Sibal, the government plans to increase the gross enrollment ratio of children reaching college from 12 to 30 percent by 2020. To cater to the increasing number of children reaching higher educational institutes, 1,000 more universities and 45,000 more colleges were needed, he said.

"This is a mind boggling challenge," the minister said.

Sibal added that the government has opened up the entire higher education sector.

About the Foreign Universities Bill, which is pending in the parliament, he said: "We hope to get it passed soon".

Taking a dig at the opposition, Sibal said that there was only one way to defeat the government and that is by bringing in a no confidence motion. "If you cannot do that you cannot have the leisure of stopping the work of the government," he said.