Lok Sabha Question No. 1257 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-07-25
Subject: Quality of Education in Universities
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: JYOTIRADITYA MADHAVRAO SCINDIA, K. ASHOK KUMAR, SUSHMITA DEV, RAMACHANDRAN MULLAPPALLY

## MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

LOK SABHA 1257

UNSTARRED QUESTION No. TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.07.2016

## Quality of Education in Universities

## 1257. SHRI JYOTIRADITYA M. SCINDIA:

SHRI K. ASHOK KUMAR:

KUMARI SUSHMITA DEV:

SHRI MULLAPPALLY RAMACHANDRAN:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government  is aware that several educationists and eminent personalities have expressed their concern over the declining quality of education and urged  the  Government  to  reverse  the  trend  quickly  and  if  so,  the  reaction  of  the Government thereto;
- (b)  whether  the  Government  is  also  aware  that  only  a  few  institutions  of  the  country have figured among the top two hundred universities in international rankings;
- (c) if so, the steps taken by the Government to compete with the top global universities and to achieve better results in rankings;
- (d) whether the Higher Education sector in the country is facing shortage of excellent faculty; and
- (e)  if  so,  the  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  attract  best  talents  among  the teachers in various universities?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (Dr. MAHENDRA NATH PANDEY)

(a)  to  (c):  The  Central  Government and the University Grants Commission (UGC) are constantly  endeavouring  to  improve  quality  of  higher  education  in  the  country.  The Central Government has launched several initiatives viz. National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), Impacting Research, Innovation & Technology (IMPRINT), Uchchtar Avishkar  Yojna  (UAY),  Global  Initiative  of  Academic  Networks  (GIAN)  in  the  field  of education for the qualitative development of education in the country. Under the NIRF, Educational Institutions are ranked by an independent ranking Agency on the basis of objective criteria. Under the IMPRINT initiative, the Government has taken the initiative to address major engineering challenges through the collaborative efforts of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The objectives of UAY  scheme  are  to  promote  innovation  in  IITs  addressing  issues  of  manufacturing industries;  to  spur  innovative  mindset;  to  co-ordinate  action  between  academia  & industry  and  to  strengthen  labs  &  research  facilities.  GIAN  scheme  is  for  facilitating partnership between Higher Educational Institutions of the country and other countries. The scheme is aimed at tapping international talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs.

The  UGC  undertakes  maintenance  of  standards  in  teaching  and  research  and quality assurance in Universities, Deemed to be Universities and Colleges through the following mechanisms, namely: framing regulations and schemes and; disbursing grants to the eligible institutions. The UGC has notified several regulations with the objective of sustenance  and  improvement  in  the  quality  of  higher  education  and  for  undertaking academic  reforms.  The  regulations  are  available  at  http://www.ugc.ac.in/page/UGCRegulations.aspx. In order to encourage research and development in the country, UGC has  laid  out  schemes,  awards,  fellowships,  chairs  and  programmes  under  which financial  assistance  is  provided  to  institutions  of  higher  education  as  well  as  faculty members working therein  to  undertake  quality  research  covering  areas  of  knowledge across  disciplines  including  revival  &  promotion  of  indigenous  languages.  These schemes are at http://www.ugc.ac.in/page/XII-Plan-Guidelines.aspx .

(d): Arising of vacancies and filling them is a continuous process. The Ministry of Human Resource  Development  (MHRD)  and  the  UGC  continuously  monitors  the  filling  up  of vacancies  in  the  institutions  maintained  by  the  UGC.  The  MHRD  and  UGC  issues instructions  from  time  to  time  to  all  Central  Universities  and  Deemed  Universities  for filing up of vacancies. In the Central Universities Vice Chancellors' Conference, held on 4 th -5 th February, 2015 and the Visitor's Conference, held on 4 th -6 th November, 2015, the Vice Chancellors were exhorted to fill up the vacant position of teachers in a time bound manner.  Further  it  was  also  discussed  in  a  meeting  with  Vice  Chancellors  of  Central Universities on 18 th February, 2016.

(e):  The  UGC  has  constituted  a  Pay  Review  Committee  for  pay  revision  of  academic staff of Universities and Colleges.  One of the Terms of Reference of the committee is to make recommendations on the  ways  and  means  for  attracting  and  retaining  talented persons  in  the  teaching  profession,  as  well  as  for  furtherance  of  research  in  the University  System  and  also  for  their  career  advancement  in  teaching  and  equivalent positions  in  order  to  improve  the  quality  of  higher  education.  The  notification  of  the constitution of committee is as http://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/UGC-notice-0002.pdf .

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