Giving details of the measures, Secretary Higher Education R P Agarwal said Indians teaching abroad will be offered Ramanujan fellowship.
The fellowship would offer Rs 5 lakh for five years as research grant to them. Apart from this, they would be given a pay package of Rs 60,000 that would now be revised keeping the sixth pay commission in mind.
The acclaimed faculty teaching in India would be given the Bose fellowship. There would also be grants for paper presentation for all the faculty members, Agarwal said.
To strengthen the science stream, the research grant in the field would be increased.
"In India, only 2.9 per cent people are into research. Where as in US the percentage is 15 and in UK the figure is 25 per cent. Canada tops the list with 36 per cent and all these research works are done through their university system only in these countries," Agarwal added.
Below we list the existing the existing IITs (7), IISc (1), IISERs(5)/NISER(1), IIMs(6), Central Universities and the proposed new ones (9 IITs, 7 IIMs, 14 world class central univs -WCCU, 16 central univs). (We also list a few other marquee institutions.) The recently established ones are in green and the new ones are in red.
Andhra Pradesh: CU Hyderabad, CU: Maulana Azad National Urdu Univ, CU – CIEFL; Workers Technical University – CU, IIT in Hyderabad, WCCU VizagKadapa Vizag
Assam and 7 other north-eastern states: CU: Assam University, CU: Tezpur University, IIT Guwahati, WCCU GUwahati
Arunachal Pradesh: CU
Manipur: Central Agricultural University – Imphal, CU: Manipur University
Meghalaya: CU – NEHU Shillong, IIM Shillong
Mizoram: CU – Mizoram University Aizawl
Nagaland: CU – Nagaland University
Sikkim: CU – Sikkim University
Tripura: CU – Tripura University
Bihar: IIT in Patna, WCCU Patna, CU
Chhattisgarh: IIM (Raipur), CU – Guru Ghasidas University Bilaspur
Goa: CU- Goa University
Gujarat: IIM Ahmedabad, IIT, WCCU Gandhinagar, CU
Haryana: IIM, CU
Himachal Pradesh: IIT, CU
Jammu and Kashmir: IIM, CU
Jharkhand: ISM Dhanbad, IIM, CU
Karnataka: IISc Bangalore, IIM Bangalore, WCCU Mysore, CU
Kerala: IIM Kozhikode, IISER Trivendrum, IIST Trivendrum, WCCU Kochi, CU
Madhya Pradesh: IIM Indore, IISER Bhopal, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University – Amarkantak, IIT in Indore, WCCU Bhopal, CU – Hari Singh Gaur University in Sagar
PRESS NOTE – STATES IDENTIFIED FOR LOCATING NEW CENTRAL INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE 11TH FIVE YEAR PLAN
11:55 IST
The 11th Five Year Plan, endorsed by the National Development Council in December, 2007, envisages, inter-alia, establishment of the following new higher education institutions in the Central sector:
ATechnical Education Institutions
·8 Indian Institutes of Technology
·7 Indian Institutes of Management
BCentral Universities
·14Universities aiming at world class standards
·16Universities in States which do not have a CentralUniversity at present
2.Out of the above new institutions, location decisions had already been taken in the case of 4 IITs and one IIM. Hon’ble Prime Minister has since approved the proposals made by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, for the location of the remaining institutions as per the details given below.
Location of new IITs/ IIMs.
3.Location of 4 IITs(in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh),and one IIM (at Shillong) have already been announced. The Central Government has now decided to locate the remaining 4 IITs and 6 IIMs in the following States :–
IIMs –Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh (Raipur), Uttarakhand and Haryana In addition, it is also proposed to convert the Institute of Technology of the BanarasHinduUniversityinto an IIT.Admission to this Institute is already based on theIIT – Joint Entrance Examination.
Location of 14 World Class Universities
4.As regards 14 Central Universities aiming atworld class standards, it has been considered necessary that these are located in or near selected large cities which would automatically have the kind of connectivity and infrastructurewhich such universities would need.Accordingly, it has been decidedto locate one such University in each of the 14 States/Regionas shownin theenclosed List, and to request concerned State Governments to identify adequate land in or near theselectedcities.
Location of 16 Central Universities in Uncovered States
5.16 States which do not have aCentral University at present, and which will get oneCentral University eachin the11th Plan areBihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Goa.Of these, in three States, existing State Universities will be taken over by the Central Government and converted into Central Universities. Thesethree Universities areDr. Hari Singh Gaur University, Sagar (in Madhya Pradesh), GuruGhasidasUniversity, Bilaspur (in Chhattisgarh), and GoaUniversity.
6.Establishment of IITs, IIMs and CentralUniversities in the above States is subject to State Governments offering adequateland at suitable locations, free of cost, for the purpose.Each of the concerned State Government is being requested to offer land accordingly.Actual establishment of these institutions would however depend, among other things, on how quickly the concerned State Governments respondby allotting adequate land at suitable locations.
State-wise List of Cities Identified for locating 14 Central Universities during theXIth Planwhich would aim to achieveworld classstandards
In 2005 our CM had proposed the central takeover/adoption of the Institute of Material Sciences (IMS) in Bhubaneswar (68/1, Laxmi Vihar, Bhubaneswar – 751005 ) to make it a National Institute for advanced materials and applications. In this, ex-IIT Khragpur director Prof. K. L. Chpora, a recent Padma shri award winner, was involved. But besides the following news report from 2005 nothing much has happened.
The Fakir Mohan University, Vyasa Vihar, Balasore, Orissa was established by the Govt. of Orissa under Section 32 of the Orissa University Act, 1989(Act 5 of 1989)and it was notified vide the Government’s Notification No. 973 dated 3rd July, 1999. The University has also been duly recognized by the UGC Under Section 2(f) of the UGC Act vide the Notification No.F–9–1/2000 (CPP–I) dated 11 Feb.2000 and it is declared eligible to receive Central Financial assistance under sec 12(B) of the UGC Act 1956 vide notification No.F.9-1/2000(CPP-1)dtd-23rd Dec-2005.It has also been accredited by the Association of Indian Universities.
I am told North Orissa University in Baripada also has received this tag. I could not find any documentation of that (in the Internet) though.
Orissa is yet to send the proposal for setting up a World Class University (WCU) in the state.
Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) has written to State Government to send a Detailed Proposal for a WCU in Orissa.
MHRD wrote the letter sequel to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s historic initiative on higher education includes 14 world class central universities each with an approximate initial budget of Rs. 1000 crores.
Besides traditional disciplines, these universities are supposed to have a medical school, an engineering school, a business school and a law school.
Currently India does not have any such world class university, and the central government, serious about the "world class" label wants these universities in locations that will create synergies.
Various news items have mentioned proximity to research labs such as CSIR labs as one of the qualifying locational attributes.
Orissa, at 6.1 per cent is at the bottom of the higher education enrollment among all major states, and needs to cover the biggest gap to make it to the 11th plan target of 15 per cent.
Moreover, Orissa is the 9th largest state of the country in terms of area and 11th largest in terms of population.
It also does not have any existing central universities.
Thus one would expect that Orissa would be in the front of the line making its case for one of these world class universities.
Unfortunately that is not the case.
Even after receiving communication from MHRD on this count Orissa has not yet responded, admited a senior official.
It would be a shame if Orissa loses out on this because of not making a proper and timely case, lamented an educationist.
Insiders say that the BJD-BJP Government is doing this deliberately so that when Orissa does not get one of these world class universities, than the government will again accuse the UPA Government of neglecting the state.
It is true that in recent past the UPA Government has created havoc by taking away a previously announced IIT from Orissa.
But in this particular case, the PM himself has stated categorically that there will be a competition between states in making decisions regarding the locations of the world class universities.
So if Orissa does not even send a timely proposal how can we blame the UPA government for Orissa not being given one of the WCU.
Chandrasekhar Sahu, Minister of State, Rural Development has written to MHRD about Orissa getting one of the WCU.
But one wonders if this will turn out like the NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology) case.
Mr. Sahu was promised consideration for a NIFT by the Union Textiles Minister Sankar Sinh Vaghela, but the whole state was embarrassed in the Parliament when it was stated in a reply that Orissa government has never submitted a request for a NIFT.
In case of NIFT, Bihar took the lead in sending a proposal and snatched it from Orissa.
If Orissa loses out in getting one of the 14 world class university because of the current government’s laziness or because of its devious strategy to win elections at the cost of harming Orissa so that it can blame the Center, the people of Orissa will never forgive this Government, feel educationists.
NEW DELHI: With a thrust on improving the standard of higher education, government is working on a proposal to set up 14 ‘World Class Universities’ across the country at an early date.
A blueprint is being prepared by the Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry and Planning Commission to set out the criteria for such universities, which will have a business management school, an engineering college, a medical college, a law college in a single campus.
The proposal is being pursued by the Prime Minister’s office which has asked the HRD Ministry and Planning Commission to expedite formulation of guidelines for such universities and give the final picture by the third week of this month.
… The HRD Ministry and Planning Commission have started working on these guidelines acting on the proposal of full Planning Commission meeting on education sector that held on September 13.
"We are working at a very fast pace on the guidelines because we have already been told once by the PMO that we are behind the schedule. So soon we will have the guidelines in place," said Mungekar, former Vice Chancellor of Mumbai University.
… Proposals for setting up the ‘World Class Universities’ will be invited from all the states and those meeting the criteria will benefit. This will, in effect, do away with allegations of discrimination by states.
"The rules are going to be very stringent. The states have to compete to get the world class university," Mungekar said while giving an outline of the regulations.
Besides reasonable rules like a big plot of a land for free in prime location, there would be other demanding criteria that the states will have to meet while competing for having such universities.
In the allotment of such centrally-funded universities, priority will be given to states which do not have central varsities at present.
Orissa must get ready to prepare and send a good proposal on this. After the criteria is announced there may not be much time to do this. So preparing for this beforehand is important.
Education is set to receive a Rs 2.85 lakh crore boost, with the Planning Commission increasing the allocation for the sector by a massive 19.9% in the 11th Five Year Plan.
The education budget has been classified into elementary, adult and secondary, and higher education. For elementary education, Rs 1.25 lakh crore is being earmarked, which is a major hike from the Rs 30,000 crore allocated in the last Plan.
Likewise, the share of adult and secondary education is being increased to Rs 6,000 crore and Rs 53,000 crore, respectively. As per the plan document, Rs 84,000 crore are being set aside for higher and technical education.
Planning Commission member, Bhalchandra Mungekar, said the increase in the budget for health and education is an attempt to achieve inclusive growth.
… "The most important issue is our agenda for reforms in higher education system, where we have asked for major structural changes," he said. "Major reforms are a must like introducing credit and semesters systems and exam reforms."
The Plan has set aside resources for a massive expansion of higher education. It seeks to establish 30 new central universities of which 16 are to be set up in areas which don’t have a central university. The rest 14 are to be model universities of world class infrastructure.
According to HRD ministry, each of these 14 universities would cost around Rs 1,000 crores. There are plans for seven more IITs, seven IIMs, 10 National Institute of Technology, five Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research, 20 IIITs and two schools of architecture. There will also be 330 new colleges in educationally backward districts.
UGC (Fitness of Certain Universities for Grants)Rules, 1975
To be Published in the Gazette of India
Part II, Section 3, Sub-Section (i)
No. F.92/74U.2.
Government of India
Ministry of Education & Social Welfare
(Department of Education)
New Delhi, the 9th Sep., 1974.
NOTIFICATION
In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 25 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 (3 of 1956) read with Section 12A Now read as 12B of that Act, the Central Government hereby makes the following rules, namely:-
Short title, application and commencement:
These rules may be called the University Grants Commission (Fitness of Certain Universities for Grants) Rules, 1974.
They shall apply to every university established after the commencement of the University Grants Commission (Amendment) Act, 1972 (33 of 1972), other than,
an agricultural university,
a university established against the advice of the Commission for imparting, exclusively, technological or medical education; and
an institution recognised by the Commission, under the clause (f) of Section 2 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 (3 of 1956), on or after the 17th day of June 1972, the date on which the University Grants Commission (Amendment) Act, 1972 (33 of 1972) came into force.
They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
Fitness for Grant � �No University to which these rules apply shall be declared to be fit to receive grants from the Central Government the University Grants Commission or any other Organisation receiving any funds from the Central Government unless the Commission is satisfied that:
the University is a University established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, or
in the case of any other University, the establishment of the University is justified on one or more of the following grounds, namely:-
inadequacy of the facilities for higher education and research in the area in which the University is situated and the inability of the existing University or Universities of the state concerned to provide for such facilities either in its or their existing faculties or schools or by the establishment of postgraduate centres or campuses.
the University has or shall have some special features or new, programme and activities which will augment the existing academic resources in the country.
the University has or shall have programmes for the upliftment of backward areas or removal of regional imbalances.
the law under which the University is established contains a provision for the establishment of a Planning Board or Committee consisting of eminent educationists to indicate the lines on which the University shall develop.
in the law under which the University established, due weight hasbeen given to the recommendations made by:-
the Education Commission (196466) constituted by a resolution of the Government of India;
the Committee on the Governance of Universities appointed by the Commission; and
the Committees of Panels appointed by the Commission during the last ten years:
the University is not merely an affiliating University but a multifaculty University having adequate facilities, for teaching and research in a number of subjects.
the university has powers to provide instruction through correspondence courses and to declare a college, department, centre or campus as an autonomous college, department, centreor campus, respectively,
every teaching department, centre, discipline in the University has a provision for a minimum staff of one Professor, two Raiders and an adequate number of lecturers alongwith the necessary supporting staff,
adequate machinery for the health residence and welfare for the students has either been provided in, or resources are being made available for the purpose to the University;
the university has been provided with adequate facilities in respect of building, equipment, books, library, hostel and staff quarters, excluding colleges library or institutions affiliated or admitted to its privileges,
whose aggregate value is not less than Rs 2 crores alongwith the developed land or the State Government is prepared to give an assurance to the Commission that a minimum amount of Rs 2 crores shall be made available to the University during the initial period of five years for the provision of the above mentioned facilities in addition to the developed land.
Sd/-
(I.D.N. Sahi)
Secretary to the Government of India
The Manager,
Government of India Press,
Ring Road, New Delhi.
Copy forwarded for information to:-
The Secretary, UGC, New Delhi.
The Comptroller & Auditor General of India, New Delhi.
The Accountant General, Central Revenues, New Delhi.
All State Governments and Administrations.
All Ministries of the Government of India.
All the Universities in India.
All the coordination Sections of various Divisions in the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare.
UGC (Fitness of Technological Universities for Grants) Rules, 1978
To be Published in the Gazette of India
Part II, Section 3, Sub-Section (i)
Government of India
Ministry of Education & Social Welfare
(Department of Education)
New Delhi, the 31st May, 1978
NOTIFICATION
G.S.R_____________ In exercise of the power conferred by Section 25, read with Section 12A Now read as 12B of the University Grants Commission 1956 (3 of 1956), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules, namely-
Short title, application and commencement:-
These rules may be called the University Grants Commission (Fitness of Technological Universities for Grants) Rules, 1978.
They shall apply to every Technological University established on or after the 17th day of June, 1972 the date on which the University Grants Commission (Amendment) Act, 1972 (33 of 1972) came into force.
They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
Definitions:In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires-
��Industry� means any business, trade undertaking manufacture or calling employers and includes any calling, service, employment,handicraft, or industrial occupation or a vocation of workmen:
�Technological University� means a university which provides for instruction and research in any branch or branches of engineering and technology, and for the advancement of learning and dissemination of knowledge in such branch or branches.
Fitness for Grant:No Technological University to which these rules apply be declared to be fit to receive grant from the Central Government, the Commission or any other organisation receiving any funds from the Central Government unless the Commission is satisfied in respect of the following matters, namely-
there is a felt need to set up such a university and there is an evidence that the existing universities in a state cannot effectively meet the requirements of development of Engineering and Technological education through its colleges either directly maintained by or affiliated to it;
it has adequate facilities for postgraduate teaching and research and has facilities for adequate support of science departments of its own;
it provides adequate link with the industry for its courses and is in a position to provide for high level consultancy to the industry;
it provides courses of extension and devotes attention for regional development;
the State Government ensures the provision of adequate basic facilities in respect of scientific staff, supporting staff, buildings, equipment, library, hostels, staff quarters, playgrounds and the like as may be determined in consultation with the All India Council for Technical Education;
in the law under which such university is established, due weightage has been given to the recommendations made by-
the Education Commission (196466) constituted by a Resolution of the Government of India,
the Committee on the Governance of Universities appointed by the Commission.
Sd/-
(S.N. Pandita) Joint Secretary to the Govt. of India
Higher education in India has witnessed manifold changes since Independence. The number of universities have gone up from 20 to 378, colleges from 500 to 18,064 and teachers from 15,000 to nearly 4.80 lakh. Consequently, enrolment has increased from a mere 1 lakh in 1950 to over 112 lakh in 2006, and the gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education has risen from an abysmal 1 per cent to 10 per cent.
Besides these numeric expansions, there has been significant diversification, with a marked shift in courses from the conventional disciplines to inter-disciplinary in emergent areas. Further, it’s not just public institutions, but also the private-aided and unaided sector that has had an important role in this expansion.
These developments notwithstanding, higher education today is faced with a number of challenges. In the forefront is the issue of improving overall enrolment, along with equitable access and quality education. We now recognise that the current access at 10 per cent is too low when compared with the world average of 23 per cent and 40 to 60 per cent in case of the developed countries. Besides, there are regional and social group imbalances in access, which varies between 6 to 8 per cent for the SC, ST, OBC and Muslims. The most deprived are the poor, for whom access is no more than 2 per cent. The GER in rural areas, at 7.5 per cent, compares poorly with the urban areas, at 24 per cent. Besides, regional disparities are also noticeable, with as many as 350 districts in the country having GER lower than the national average and 29 districts having GER of less than 5 per cent.
Equally important is the problem of quality. Out of 14,080 colleges, only 6,000, and out of 224 state universities, only 167 are able to meet the minimum prescribed norms and standards for receiving UGC development grants. Further, NAAC assessment of 3,492 colleges and 140 universities reveals that only 9 per cent of the colleges and 31 per cent of the universities are rated as A-grade and an overwhelming 68 per cent of them are rated as B-grade.
Besides, there are issues related to academic reforms. While quite a few institutions have been able to implement credit-based courses and a semester system with continuous internal assessment, others have continued with annual examinations, largely based on external written examination. Also, the affiliating university system is over-burdened as the number of colleges affiliated to each university has been on the rise.
Enhancing access with inclusion and excellence are the main challenges, which the Eleventh Plan approach recognised. It recognised that increase in access will have to come with focus on the regions and social groups that presently have lower GER. These also happen to be the regions with lower quality educational institutions.
The strategy of the Eleventh Plan will revolve around the issue of expansion, inclusiveness and quality, including academic reforms. The Plan sets a target GER of 15 per cent by 2012. This is proposed to be achieved through increase in the intake capacity of existing institutions and through establishment of new institutions. Under the PM’s initiative, 30 new central universities have already been announced.
This strategy for expansion will have to be combined with measures for reducing regional imbalances, with central support to states on matching basis. Under the PM’s initiative, the establishment of a college in each of the 350 districts with low GER and less number of colleges per lakh population has been announced. Besides, there will be focus on hilly, border, tribal, remote, rural and small town areas.
The strategy for enrolment expansion will be combined with that of inclusion for social groups like women, SC, ST, OBC, minorities like Muslims, the physically challenged and the poor in general. This will include support to universities and colleges having high proportion of students from these groups, and also to institutions located in districts with relatively higher concentration of their population.
There are a number of steps proposed for promoting quality and excellence. First, it will include support to 60 per cent colleges and 40 per cent universities that are so far ineligible to receive UGC grants. Bringing them within the orbit of UGC grant, with matching grants from states, shall certainly improve their quality.
Second, it will comprise measures for bridging the quality gap between C- and A-grade colleges and universities, which will again be based on matching commitment from states.
Third, it will focus on adequate availability of quality teachers, which, in turn, will require enhanced funding for research and
fellowships for PhD. It will also require steps with respect to salary, appointment, mobility of teachers and others.
The issue of academic practices relating to admission, examination and assessment has been in the public domain ever since the Radhakrishna and the Kothari Commission. These have been selectively implemented but have not yet become a uniform practice. It is important to identify the enabling conditions for their wider use. This may require selective approach, which calls for sharing of experience of those who have tried them successfully and with those who tried but failed.
The issue of regulating private education providers in a manner such that it facilitates their role and, at the same time, ensures quality and equity is equally important. All the three types of private providers — namely private-aided, private-unaided/self-financing institutions and also self-financing courses run by public-funded institutions — have seen rapid expansion in recent years. The Eleventh Plan proposed to develop a regulatory framework for private sector institutions, regulating admission, fees and governance.
In this sense, the Eleventh Plan takes a leap forward. It is important that these policies are implemented. It is with this in mind that the UGC organised four regional conferences of Vice-Chancellors, which culminated in the national conferences of Vice-Chancellors on October 10 and 11, to discuss the above issues and arrive at a common view.
Sukhadeo Thorat is Chairman, University Grants Commission
The University Grants Commission organised a two day National Conference on Development of Higher Education on 10th and 11th October,2007 at New Delhi. The two day National Conference was attended by Vice Chancellors of Central, State, Deemed Universities and other eminent educationists. Six technical sessions were held on the themes of (i) Access and Expansion (ii)Equity & Inclusion (iii) Quality & Excellence (iv) Private Participation in Higher Education and Internationalization (v) Academic and Administrative Reforms (vi) Financing and Funding Mechanism. Following is a summary of the recommendations made by the participants of the National Conference.
1. There was a consensus that the triple objective of Expansion, Inclusion and Excellence are integral and complementary to one another and must be seen as three dimensions of the same problem and issues related to them will have to be addressed simultaneously and with due deference to one another.
2. It was agreed that access to higher education has to be increased to 20-25 percent and that the target GER of 15 by the end of the 11th plan appears reasonable. The participants agreed with the two-pronged strategy of establishment of new institutions and also capacity enhancement of existing institutions. They however emphasised that this should be done with due regard to the social and market relevance and changing preference of students and that the focus of expansion should be on inclusion and excellence and an approach that is expedient.
a. Capacity addition in existing instituions
b. Focus on smaller towns, rural and remote areas and backward regions where GER is lower than the national average;
c. A women university in each state
d. Established universities to set up rural campuses
e. Priority to professional and technical courses in public institutions;
f. Restructuring conventional courses
g. Focus on professional, technical and market-oriented courses must not be at the cost of humanities and social sciences.
h. Universities should not be reduced to skill-development centre; their focus should be intense engagements in intellectual activities;
i. Enrolment at the PG level across all disciplines need to be enhanced;
j. Universities and colleges to be of optimal size; conduct a study to decide;
3. Rationalise the affiliating system: reduce the number of colleges per university; make affiliation more effective; autonomy to bigger and better colleges; UG examination board within the university;
4. It was insisted upon that the strategies for expansion as outlined in these conference must not rely upon the private sector alone for this will adversely impinge upon the goal of equity and inclusion. Thus public investment in higher education has to be increased substantially;
5. It was reiterated time and again that mere expansion in institutions and intake capacity shall not necessarily make higher education inclusive. This will require an proactive approach and strategies for removing the regional and social imbalances. The participants agreed with the approach and strategies suggested by the UGC and also with the recommendations of the regional conferences:
a. New universities and colleges in areas that have GER lower than the national average;
b. Strengthen and expand existing universities and colleges that are located in areas that have GER lower than the national average;
c. Special assistance to institutions located in under-privileged regions/areas and also to those that have higher proportion of such social groups as SCs, STs, OBCs, Minorities, Girls, Physically Challenged in their student and staff population;
d. Establishment of equal opportunity office in each university;
e. Capacity building centres for students from the deprived social groups;
6. It was emphasised that the strategies for inclusion must also include the physically challenged – departments of disability studies;
7. Focus will also be on school education;
8. Better endowed and privileged universities and colleges need to network with under-privileged institutions located in rural and remote areas and thus offer the opportunity of providing the best talents and technology to the rural, backward and deprived institutions;
9. Regarding excellence in higher education will have to focus on Infrastructure, physical facilities and human resources particularly teachers;
10. The national conference is in agreement with the strategies suggested by the UGC and the recommendations of the regional conferences;
a. Bring the non-12b colleges & universities under the ugc fold – on matching grant basis;
b. Priority funding for bringing B and C band universities at the level of A band universities;
c. Faculty development through fellowships and FIP
11. Much depends upon the availability of quality teaching faculty but for which quality of higher education shall not improve;
12. State governments to accord priority to higher education – Remove ban on creation of faculty positions and appointment
a. Nurturing Talents and Promoting Quality Faculty: Teaching Staff: Special and urgent efforts are needed in attracting and retaining the best available talents as faculty members in higher education. Autonomy with responsibility, performance based incentives, revisit the compensation and rewards;
b. Rigour in faculty selection, PhD admission on merit and through rigorus selection process; faculty development;
c. Student evaluation and feedback of courses and faculty should be introduced and these should be used for incentivising faculty members;
d. Financial assistance to universities and colleges for International faculty exchange, Inter-institutional faculty exchange within the country and also for faculty exchange between industry and academic institutions;
13. On the issue of academic and administrative reforms the conference is in agreement with the recommendations of the regional conferences on updating of curricula, examination and evaluation system, semester and credit based courses, inter-institutional mobility of students;
14. The process of reforms has already been delayed for long and every possible efforts should be made to put them into practice. The leadership of the university should take the initiative and must exert their authority to ensure that these are implemented urgently;
15. It was indicated that Infrastructural constraints particularly inadequate faculty is the biggest constraint in the implementation of these reforms;
16. Higher education must protect its autonomy and the most effective way of doing the same lies in behaving with responsibility. Autonomy with accountability, therefore, has to be the guiding principle. The higher education fraternity must work hard and excel in their pursuits to command respect. The higher education system needs to protect its autonomy and in no circumstances the universities should allow the external forces to control the contents of higher education.
17. Multiplicity of regulatory authorities is a concerns encroaching upon the university autonomy and creates confusion. It is suggested that:
§ The UGC should be the sole regulatory authority for universities and that other regulatory authorities should respect the autonomy of these institutions and should play only an advisory role.
§ The mandates of other regulatory authorities – the AICTE, NCTE, etc should be confined to colleges offering professional and technical courses and private and self financed non-affiliated institutions only;
§ As medical and agricultural universities and colleges are funded by separate administrative Ministries, the MCI and ICAR should continue to regulate the medical and agricultural education in universities and colleges;
§ Other regulatory authorities should consult and involve the university concerned in their approval and accreditation process of affiliated institutions;
§ Governance and Decision making process:
o size and composition of decision making bodies.
o Decentralisation
o Departmental autonomy
o Leadership in universities plays vital role in promoting quality and excellence in higher education. Thus The Vice Chancellors should be appointed
§ on merit proven administrative administrative capabilities;
§ by search committee comprising of people of repute and other external forces should not be allowed to play part in the selection of vice chancellors’
As regards internationalisation, participants agreed with the recommendations of the regional conference. Watchword has been that it must not adversely impinge on the goal of equity and quality. Strongly regulatory mechanism for the foreign universities was suggested;
So was the case with the issues concerning private participation in higher education. Even the private and self financed universities were in agreement that these universities should be guided by the principles of equity and justice and commitment for providing quality higher education; A strong regulatory framework was suggested for the purpose;
The crisis in higher education is not as much due to lack of resources as it is of priorities. Unless higher education appears high on the priority of the union and state governments, the resource constraints shall continue to remain;
Cost recovery from students is already very high in the range of 40 – 50% and the scope of raising fees may be limited.
Of the 30 new central universities proposed 16 will be in states that do not have any. It seems the rest 14 will be chosen from proposals sent by the state governments. Following are excerpts from a New Indian Express report on this issue.
The State Governments have to compete among themselves in providing land in prime locations free of cost if they wanted to have prestigious Central University with world class facilities.
The Central Government is making mandatory for the States to provide land and other infrastructure facilities free of cost in the prime locations for setting up world class Universities.
After getting a nod from the Planning Commission for establishment of 14 Central Universities with world class standards in the 11th five-year plan, the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development made it clear that a prime location is the key for deciding the place for setting up such prestigious Central University.
Giving an example of what is prime location, the Union Ministry is asking the states to come out with proposals to provide land free of cost in attractive locations such as proximity to Council of Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR) Labs.
Sources said that prime location is very important keeping in view of the magnetism of the location for attracting top class faculty. The location of the new Central Universities would be decided on the basis of careful consideration of alternative possibilities proposed by the State Governments.
The 14 universities would be planned with careful planning to have various schools including medical and engineering. The Union Ministry would soon set up autonomous project teams comprising of eminent people for each proposed world class university to design and implement the project creatively. Sources said that initially the beginning would be made with five such teams. …
