Lok Sabha Question No. 2609 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-14
Subject: Higher Education
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: GOPALAKRISHNAN CHINNARAJ

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

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2609 TO BE ANSWERED ON 14.03.2016

## Higher Education

## 2609. DR. C. GOPALAKRISHNAN:

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

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  noticed  that  the  State  of  Tamil  Nadu  ranks  first  in enrolment in higher education in the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) the steps being taken by the Government to improve the higher education across the country?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

- (a) & (b): As per the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2014-15 (provisional) 33,23,026 students are enrolled in higher education courses in the State of Tamil Nadu. The States of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have higher enrolments than Tamil Nadu.
- (c):  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  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  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  thought  ICT  (NMEICT),  has  undertaken  e-content development of post graduate programmes called e-PG Pathashala.

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