Government moves to boost higher education

The Central government has decided to enhance higher education system so as to recognise India on the global scale with Ministry of Human Resource & Development has announced to set up eight new Indian Institutes of Technologies, seven Indian Institutes of Management and 14 new world class universities in the next five years under 11th five-year plan. Sixteen new Universities will also be opened under this plan and ministry has also proposed to convert Banaras Hindu University in IIT.

Announcing this at a press conference in New Delhi, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh said, “Ministry has already proposed to establish four of the eight new IITs, one of the seven IIMs”, while the new places has now been spotted, where these remaining proposed institutes would be opened.

“Hon’ble Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has approved the new places”, said HRD minister.

According to HRD ministry, eight new IITs will be opened in eight different states and government has decided to establish these in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Punjab, while seven IIMs will also be opened in Shillong, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Haryana.

Government has also decided to open 14 world-class universities in Pune (Maharastra), Kolkata (West Bengal), Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu), Mysore (Karnataka), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Gandhinagar (Gujrat), Jaipur (Rajasthan), Patna (Bihar), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Kochi (Kerala), Amritsar (Punjab), Bhubaneswar (Orissa), Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh) and Guwahati (Asom, for north-eastern region) to enhance the status of higher education and to provide the Indian students world-class facilities of education.

For this, “Centre has ordered the states to identify adequate land at free of cost in or near the selected cities”, said HRD Minster. To establish these ‘world-class’ universities, ministry has opted those cities or surrounding large cities that already have sufficient infrastructure and strong connectivity, which is essential requirement for setting up this sort of universities.

As per ministry’s higher education plan for expanding the higher education system, HRD ministry has proposed to open new 16 universities on those states, which do not have Central University. Ministry has chosen Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Goa.

Besides these, three existing universities in three states would be converted into Central University from its current State University form. These are Dr. Hari Singh Gaur University, Sagar (Madhya Pradesh), Guru Ghasidas University, Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh), and Goa University.

While BHU has also been transformed into IIT as earlier Roorkee University was converted.

For setting up IITs, ministry is estimating an investment of Rs. 750 crore over a six-year tenure while for establishing IIMs, it needs nearby Rs 175 to Rs 200 crore over the same period. The Planning Commission has provided Rs. 660 crore for a five-year period for the seven IIMs and committee has also allocated Rs 2,800 crore for the ‘world class universities’ and Rs 2,000 crore for the central universities.

Arjun Singh has also announced to implement the rules of reservation in all these universities on the pattern of Central Universities. “All universities and institutes will have to follow the ‘reservation policy’,” said Singh.

The intake capacity for each IITs would be up to 2,500 while IIMs would admit 120 students per year, directed the HRD ministry.