Lok Sabha Question No. 2747 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-14
Subject: Quality of Higher Education
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: N.K. PREMACHANDRAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2747 TO BE ANSWERED ON 14.03.2016

## Quality of Higher Education

## 2747. SHRI N.K. PREMACHANDRAN:

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

- (a) whether the Government proposes to improve the quality of higher education and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the action taken by the Government to protect the quality of higher education;
- (c) whether it has come to the notice of the Government that a number of institutions are functioning in the private sector without satisfying the criteria as per the rules;
- (d) if so, the action taken by the Government in this regard;
- (e)  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  change  the  criteria  for  sanctioning  financial assistance  to  States  for  improving  the  quality  of  higher  education  system,  if  so,  the details thereof; and
- (f)  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  unify  the  curriculum  of  higher  education throughout the country, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

## (SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

- (a)  &  (b):    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  will  be  ranked  by  an  independent ranking Agency for which objective criteria has been developed. They shall be ranked separately  in  fields  such  as  Engineering,  Management,  Pharma,  Architecture  etc. 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).  Under  this,  a  roadmap  is

finalised  to  pursue  engineering  challenges  in  ten  technology  domains  that  have  large social  impact.  The  objectives  of  UAY  scheme  are  to  promote  innovation  in  IITs addressing  issues  of  manufacturing  industries;  to  spur  innovative  mindset;  to  coordinate  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  Central  Government  is  implementing  the  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) for strategic funding and reforms in the State Higher Education sector.

The University Grants Commission (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/UGC-Regulations.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 .

The  UGC  has  also  informed  that  it  has  launched  the  following  schemes  for making  higher  education  relevant  to  the  needs  of  the  society  and  industry,  namely: Career Oriented Courses (COC), Community Colleges (CC), introduction of degrees in vocational  subjects  and  Pandit  Deen  Dayal  Upadhyaya  Knowledge  Acquisition  and Upgradation of Skilled Human Abilities and Livelihood (KAUSHAL) centres in line with National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF). The UGC, through collaboration with National  Mission  on  Education  through  ICT  (NMEICT),  has  undertaken  e-content development of post graduate programmes.

(c) & (d): Private Universities are regulated by the UGC as per provisions contained in the  UGC  (Establishment  and  Maintenance  of  Standards  in  Private  Universities),

Regulations, 2003. These private universities are inspected by the UGC with the help of concerned Statutory Council(s). The status of inspection and the inspection reports of existing 228 private universities are available at http://www.ugc.ac.in/privatuniversity.aspx . Deemed  Universities are set up and regulated  by  the  UGC  on  the  basis  of  UGC  (Institutions  Deemed  to  be  Universities) Regulations, 2010. (e):  The  ratio  of  sharing  between  the  Central  Government  and  the  general  category States is 60:40 and 90:10 for special category States. This ratio of sharing has been modified recently in December, 2015. (f): In an effort to support the Universities for implementation of the Choice Based Credit System, which offers choice to students in taking up courses for their programmes of study,  the  UGC  has  designed  syllabi  templates  for  89  mainline  and  18  specialised courses after wide consultations. The templates are primarily focussed on semesterisation  and  making  it  modular  with  stress  on  progressive  modulation.  The UGC has given the option to the universities to change the syllabus to the extent of

30% keeping in view the expertise of the universities in a subject domain.

****