Country needs 302 more varsities: UGC
New Delhi: A higher allocation for higher education may be good news, but can India achieve a 15% gross enrolment ratio in higher education as envisaged under the 11th Five-Year Plan?
The two-day higher and technical education ministers meet that began in the capital on Wednesday discussed several such issues. The University Grants Commission (UGC) pointed out that India required hundreds of new universities to increase the gross enrolment ratio by 5% from the current 10%.
UGC chairman Sukhdeo Thorat said, Assuming that one university is set up for a population of two lakh in the age group of 18 to 24, we will need 302 universities in deficit states. Uttar Pradesh will need 63 varsities, Bihar will require 32, West Bengal will need 30 and Maharashtra will have to build 20.
The target appears difficult to achieve when one considers that if 10 colleges need to be set up per one lakh population with 1,000 students per college, at least 2,162 colleges will be required in the country.
Higher education ministers from across the country came to the capital with a list of demands. While some wanted a world-class university, others requested for an IIT or an IIM or central university. Maharashtras higher and technical education minister Dilip Walse-Patil made a fresh request for an IIM. He also wanted the Centre to provide a one-time grant for the states prominent institutions such as the Government Law College, the Institute of Science and the Deccan College.
However, all representatives were asked to go back to their state and demand a higher allocation for higher education by Union HRD minister Arjun Singh.
Budget allocation for the department of higher education has been upped from Rs 9,500 crore in the 10th Plan to Rs 84,943 crore for the 12th Five-Year Plan. The Centres contention is that a recent analysis by the HRD ministry shows that the states contribution in most cases has dropped. The situation is worse in some states such as Maharashtra where the actual allocation has also dipped. The PM has allotted funds and education has become the biggest beneficiary. The plan can be fruitful only when it is carried out by close co-operation from all the states, said HRD minister Arjun Singh.
The meet also discussed issues of faculty crunch, fake universities, ragging, autonomy as also as the problem of giving too much freedom to deemed universities.
SCHOLARSHIPS ON MERIT * Among the new reforms, the ministry has decided to provide merit scholarships to 2% of students clearing Std X across the country (that is, approximately, 41,000 girls and 41,000 boys). They will be granted Rs 1,000 per month for the first two years and Rs 2,000 monthly for the next two years. This is being done to better the gross enrolment ratio
SCHOLARSHIPS ON MERIT * Among the new reforms, the ministry has decided to provide merit scholarships to 2% of students clearing Std X across the country (that is, approximately, 41,000 girls and 41,000 boys). They will be granted Rs 1,000 per month for the first two years and Rs 2,000 monthly for the next two years. This is being done to better the gross enrolment ratio
* The HRD ministry is finalising a central scheme for providing interest subsidies on educational loans taken by students belonging to the economically weaker sections for pursuing professional education in India