Highlights

In its report on higher education for the Twelfth Plan, the working group of the erstwhile Planning Commission identified expansion, inclusion and excellence as the three pillars for growth.  The NDA government had the theme of excellence in its 2016 annual budget, with a proposal to make 10 institutions each in the public and private sectors globally competitive. The IoEs can become models of autonomy, academic innovation and equity of access, and lead to a transformation of higher education.

Challenges

• The empowered committee found that State universities had a low output because some of them had several faculty members recruited on contract basis, with no incentive to do research.
• The growth of these and other national institutions will also depend on policies to raise the expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP
• Islands of eminence can inspire, but the long-term goal should be to raise the quality of higher education in all institutions through academic reform. The quality is uneven, and at the bottom levels, abysmal.
• Initiatives by charitable trusts — which have declined due to political support for commercialisation and aid cuts — must be welcomed, as this would help open more affordable colleges and universities.

Source: The HIndu