Minister of State (HRD), Dr. Satyapal Singh has informed that India’s Higher Education budget (Actual Expenditure) during 2016-17 was 29019.16 Crore. However, the data regarding spending by Indian Students in USA is not maintained by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
The Central Government and the University Grants Commission (UGC) are taking various measures to improve quality of higher education in the country by way of taking several initiatives. Some of the latest initiatives are:
- Declaration of Educational Institutions as lnstitutions of Eminence(IoE) to provide world class education to the Indian Students within the country, the Government has approved the Regulatory Architecture in the form of UGC(Declaration of Government Institutions as Institutions of Eminence) Guidelines, 2017 for public Institutions and UGC (Institutions of Eminence Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2017 for private Institutions for setting up / upgrading of 20 Institutions (10 from public sector & 10 from private sector) as world class teaching and research institutions known as Institutions of Eminence for which applications have been received. These Institutions will provide world class education to Indian Students at an affordable rate.
- Creation of the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) to give a major push for creation of high quality infrastructure in premier educational institutions
Other initiatives include:
- National Institution Ranking Framework(NIRF) – for ranking of our higher education institutions covering engineering, management, pharmacy, architecture, universities and colleges
- Global Initiative of Academic Networks(GIAN) to invite distinguished academicians, entrepreneur’s, scientists, experts from premier institutions from across the world to teach in higher educational institutions in India, hence, promoting international collaborations and improvements in quality of higher education in India
iii. Impacting Research Innovation & Technology (IMPRINT) to address engineering challenges in ten technology domains through the collaborative efforts of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
- Uchchtar Avishkar Yojna (UAY) – 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
- Study Webs of Active–Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM) – an instrument for self-actualisation providing opportunities for a life-long learning through massive open online courses
The UGC undertakes maintenance of standards in teaching and research and quality assurance in Universities, Deemed to be Universities and Colleges through framing regulations and schemes and disbursing grants to the eligible institutions. The UGC has notified and amended several regulations with the objective of sustenance and improvement in the quality of higher education and for undertaking academic reforms. In order to encourage research and development in the country, the UGC is implementing several schemes, awards, fellowships, chairs and programmes.
The Government is in the process of formulating a New Education Policy for which initially, it had constituted a Committee for Evolution of the New Education Policy in October 2015 under the Chairmanship of Shri T.S.R. Subramanian, former Cabinet Secretary to the Government of India which submitted its report in May, 2016. The Report of the Committee is available on the website of National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), which was the Committee’s Secretariat. After perusal of the report of the Committee and the based on reports of various consultations as well as views and comments received, the Ministry prepared “Some Inputs for the Draft National Education Policy, 2016” which is available on the MHRD website. Both these reports have been treated as inputs for education policy formulation. The exercise of preparing a New Education Policy is still ongoing as the Government has recently constituted a Committee for preparation of the Draft National Education Policy under the Chairmanship of Dr. K. Kasturirangan, which is due to submit its report soon.