Centre making constant efforts to improve higher education quality: Irani

Union Minister for Human Resource Development Smriti Irani on Monday said that the improvement of the quality of higher education is an ongoing process and the Centre has been making constant efforts towards achieving this objective.

Participating in a debate in Parliament and answering questions related to her ministry, Irani said several initiatives have been launched for improving the quality of higher education in the country.

"These include the Global Initiative for Academic Networks' (GIAN) to support international faculty assignment in Indian higher educational institutions; Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Training (PMMMNMTT) to address issues related to training of teachers; the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) which outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country," she said.

She further informed members of the Lok Sabha that the University Grants Commission (UGC) had formulated guidelines on adoption of choice-based credit system on November 12, 2014, and had also laid down several regulations for setting minimum standards of higher education in the country.

"The UGC is implementing schemes for providing quality skill development through higher education namely; Community Colleges, B.Voc Degree Programme and Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay KAUSHAL Kendras in the Universities and Colleges in the country. During the Twelfth Five Year Plan, the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) seeks to achieve equity, access and excellence in state higher educational institutions," she said.

As far as private universities are concerned, she said their activities are being reviewed by the UGC as per the provisions contained in UGC (Establishment of and Maintenance of Standards in Private Universities) Regulations, 2003.

She also said that deemed universities too are regulated by the UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2010 and its amended version in the year 2014 and 2015.

A provision has been made in these regulations to review the status of these Institutions through reviews conducted by the UGC with the help of Expert Committees. Institutions Deemed to be Universities are asked to submit compliance reports in respect of the deficiencies pointed out by the UGC Expert Committees.

The criteria for funding under RUSA remains focused on outcome and performance of the state and on prior utilization of funds and progress of projects in the states, the minister said.