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.
Category: Higher Education
Autonomous status to colleges which have been granted the highest grade
The University Grants Commission(UGC) has informed that it has decided, in its 514th meeting, held on 12th April, 2016, to grant autonomous status to colleges accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Counc ...
Ranking of Higher Education Institutions
The Ministry of HRD has ranked top 100 Universities, 100 Engineering, 50 Management and 50 Pharmacy colleges in the country based on National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). The details of these are available a ...
UGC requests Universities to shift to Grading System of Evaluation
The UGC has informed that under CBCS, universities are requested to shift from numerical marking system, which is followed presently in universities, to grading system of evaluation. The grading system is considered to be better than the conventional marks system and hence it has been followed in the top institutions in India and abroad. This will facilitate student mobility across institutions within and across countries and also enable potential employers to assess the performance of students.
Further, under CBCS, Universities will move from the conventional annual system to semester system. The semester system accelerates the teaching-learning process and enables vertical and horizontal mobility in learning. The credit based semester system provides flexibility in assigning credits based on the course content and hours of teaching. The guidelines issued by UGC are available at http://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/9555132_Guidelines.pdf
The UGC has informed that all the 39 Central Universities, funded by the UGC, are going to implement the Choice Based Credit System from the ensuing academic session. In addition, 21 State Public Universities, 5 State Private Universities and 6 Deemed to be Universities have also expressed their readiness for implementing CBCS.
Bill to Regulate IIMs – #HigherEducationInIndia
The draft Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) Bill intends to grant statutory status to Indian Institutes of Management to enable them to grant degrees to their students in the academic courses conducted by these inst ...
Setting up of New IIMs
The Union Cabinet has approved setting up and operationalization of six new IIMs at Amritsar (Punjab), Bodhgaya (Bihar), Nagpur (Maharashtra), Sambalpur (Odisha), Sirmaur (Himachal Pradesh), and Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pr ...
Know Your College (KYC)
With the time for admission to colleges having arrived, there is often confusion in the minds of students regarding which colleges to join and the courses to be taken up. To help the students make an informed decision on ...
Eighteen Central Universities have Introduced Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) at Undergraduate Level
A one day Review Meeting with Vice Chancellors (VCs) of Central Universities was held today in New Delhi to review the progress of decisions taken in the VCs’ Conference held at Rashtrapati Bhawan on 4th-5th February, 20 ...
Low Employability Biggest Challenge: Vice President at the “11th Annual Convocation of the Jamia Hamdard”
The Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari has said that our education system, as a whole and at all levels, continues to suffer from the three problems of access, equity and quality. Despite the growth in recent decades, enrollment levels remain below the world average. Wide disparities exist in enrolment percentages across socio-religious groups, gender and geographies. Dropout rates continue to be high at the primary and secondary levels. The education sector is plagued by a shortage of well-trained faculty, poor infrastructure and outdated curricula. Resources as a percentage of GDP allocated to education remain at less than the required level. Addressing at the “11th Annual Convocation of the Jamia Hamdard” on the theme “Education, Empowerment and Employability” here today he has opined that given the direct correlation between education, employment and empowerment, the biggest challenge confronting us is low employability of our graduates passing out of the higher education institutions.
Ranking of Indian Universities
The UGC has launched the following schemes for making higher education relevant to the needs of the society and industry, namely: Career Oriented Programmes (COC), Community Colleges (CC) and introduction of degrees in vocational subjects in line with National Skills Qualification 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.
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 on the following matters, namely: mandatory assessment and accreditation of higher educational institutions; affiliation of colleges by universities; regulation of private and deemed to be universities; minimum qualifications for appointment of teachers; minimum standards for grant of first degree, Master’s degree, M.Phil/Ph.D; grievance redressal; promotion of equity; curbing the menace of ragging etc. The regulations are available at http://www.ugc.ac.in/page/UGC-Regulations.aspx.
The UGC also laid down a list of Degrees specified for the Purposes of Section 22 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956. No other degree can be granted by a University/College and Institutions empowered to grant degrees by an Act of Parliament.
Qualitative Reforms in Higher Education
The Ministry of Human Resource Development has constituted a Council for Industry & Higher Education Collaboration (CIHEC) headed by HRD Minister, with representatives from Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIIT) and industry including industry associations, private industry and Public Sector Undertaking (PSUs). CIHEC is envisioned to serve as a professional stakeholder group and identify issues and opportunities and facilitate development of strategies and innovative instruments of collaboration between Industry and Academia.
Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), the overall quality of existing State higher educational institutions is sought to be improved by ensuring their conformity to prescribed norms and standards and adoption of accreditation as a mandatory quality assurance framework. Certain academic, administrative and governance reforms are a precondition for receiving funding under RUSA. Under RUSA, participating States are permitted to mobilize 50% of the State contribution of funding through Public-Private Partnerships, Corporate Social Responsibility funds, philanthropic contributions etc.
Operation Faculty Recharge for Augmenting the Research and Teaching Resources of Universities
UGC has initiated a scheme called Operation Faculty Recharge for augmenting the research and teaching resources of universities to tackle the shortage of faculty in the university system. So far the UGC has recruited 163 ...
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