New Delhi, Jan 25 (IANS) Several states are competing with one another to house one or more of the 30 world-class universities mooted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to upgrade the higher education system and serve as “launching pads” for India’s rightful place in the knowledge economy.
The chief ministers of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi and Orissa are among those who have requested the ministry of human resource development (HRD) to allot at least one central university each for their states under the new scheme.
Officials in the Planning Commission, which is coordinating the mega project along with the HRD ministry, said the process of selecting a state will be “very stringent” despite political compulsions of the government.
“In addition to providing a large expanse of land at prime locations, the states are also required to meet other norms while competing for a central university with world-class faculty and facilities,” said an official.
“In principle, we have decided to give priority to those states that do not have a central university or those proposed in backward areas. But that does not translate into automatic selection,” the official added.
In a bid to upgrade institutions of higher education, the government also plans to upgrade the 19 existing central universities – such as Jawaharlal Nehru University, Benareas Hindu University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi University and Visva Bharati – that are funded and maintained by the central government.
The larger blueprint also includes an upgrade of the existing eight Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), seven Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and five Indian Institutes of Science ((IISc) and research establishments.
Also on the cards are 14 additional IITs and IIMs across the country, for which the human resource development ministry has prepared a blueprint and which has been submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Planning Commission, officials said.
“At the moment we are in the process of finalising the budget allocation for the project which we will forward to the finance ministry for consideration,” a spokesperson for the HRD ministry said.
“At a broader level, the government has decided to increase the budgetary outlay for higher education by five-fold and that is expected to be the guiding principle when the fiscal outlay is made,” the official explained.
“This will amount to Rs.250,000 crore (Rs.2,500 billion or $62.5 billion) for the 11th Plan (2007-2012). This is five times more when we compare it with the allocations made during the 10th plan.”
Eventually, the overall investment in education would increase to 19.4 percent of budgetary support from the current 7.7 percent.
Addressing an event to mark 150 years of the University of Mumbai last year, the prime minister, who started his career as a teacher, said India’s education system was in a “state of despair” and proposed 30 central universities with world-class faculty and facilities.
“Almost two-thirds of our universities and 90 percent of our colleges are rated as below average on quality parameters. Importantly, there is a nagging fear that university curricula are not synchronised with employment needs,” he said.
“This expansion is going to be a landmark for access to high-quality education across the country. These universities should focus on international standards of excellence and be rated among the top institutions in the world,” he said.
“They must become the launching pads for our entry into the knowledge economy.”