In accordance with the decision of the Prime Minister for finalizing a five-year vision plan for each ministry, the Department of Higher Education of HRD Ministry has finalized and released a five-year vision plan. The plan has been named EQUIP or Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme.
According to the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry, this report has been prepared after a detailed exercise done by experts -- who chaired 10 'Groups' -- drawn from senior academicians, administrators and industrialists, who have suggested more than 50 initiatives that ‘would transform the higher education sector completely'.
The five-year plan covers ten focus areas like Strategies for expanding access, Towards global best teaching/learning process, Promoting Excellence, Governance reforms, Assessment, Accreditation & Ranking systems, Promotion of research & innovation, Employability & entrepreneurship, Using Technology for better reach, Internationalisation, Financing higher education
The experts include Hasmukh Adhia, Chancellor, Central University Gujarat; Dr. K. Kasturirangan, Chancellor, Central University of Rajasthan, former Chairman – ISRO, Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog and Kris Gopalakrishnan, former CEO, Infosys among others.
The Groups headed by experts have set several goals for higher education sector which include doubling the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education and resolve the geographically and socially skewed access to higher education institutions in India.
Upgrade the quality of education to global standards, position at least 50 Indian institutions among the top-1000 global universities, introduce governance reforms in higher education for well-administered campuses, accreditation of all institutions as an assurance of quality, and promote Research & Innovation ecosystems for positioning India in the Top-3 countries in the world in matters of knowledge creation are some other goals.
For each initiative, the Groups have recommended modalities for implementation, investments and timelines.
The proposal would now be taken for inter-departmental consultations and appraisal through the EFC mechanism before being taken to Cabinet for approval, HRD Ministry said in a statement.
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