Enrolment ratio in PG courses only 12%: UGC Chairman

University Grants Commission’s (UGC) Acting Chairman Prof. Ved Prakash has said only 12 per cent of graduates are seeking admission to postgraduate (PG) courses in various universities and institutions in the country and there are glaring regional imbalances in the enrolment of students in higher education. He was speaking at the 5th National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation ceremony. Prof. Prakash said only 1 per cent of postgraduate students enrol for research programme in various fields.

Plans to increase GER
The UGC had chalked out several plans to increase gross enrolment ratio (GER) of students (in the age group of 18 to 22) in higher education. He was optimistic of increasing the GER from the present 20 per cent to 30 per cent by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17). The enrolment of candidates for degree courses would be increased from the present 20 million to 29 million by the end of 12th Plan period. The number of students enrolled in distance education would go up from 4.6 million to 6.3 million by 2017, Prof. Prakash said.

Noting that a large number of students from marginalised sections of society would join colleges for degree courses, he said enrolment for PG courses and research programmes need to be improved to overcome shortage of teachers. There was a need to transform existing centres of learning into knowledge centres to provide quality education, the UGC Chairman said.

“Teaching and research are two sides of the same coin and the modern society cannot exist without research society.” Most of the research institutions had been overwhelmingly public institutions and they facilitate environment for both competitive and collaborative research and studies, he said.

Profit motive
Stating that corruption was rampant globally in higher education, Prof. Prakash said the profit motive was the major objective of many overseas institutions. Institutions would not last long without equity and quality of education. He also noted contribution of private educational institutions in increasing the gross enrolment ratio in degree and PG courses.

Funds
The UGC had sought Rs. 1844.70 billion for its various programmes during the 12th Plan period against Rs. 850 billion in the 11th Five Year Plan. Prof. Prakash said the UGC had planned strategies for the 12th Plan period with various schemes under the three major heads of access, equity and quality.

In some developed pockets of the country, enrolment was 42 per cent against less than 6 per cent in backward regions, he said. There were over 600 universities and university-level institutions and 31,000 colleges in the country as of 2011. He said considerable challenges still remained. Access to higher education was still less than the minimum international threshold levels. Besides skewed distribution of institutions, enrolment was largely concentrated in public universities. Further, enrolment was more in conventional disciplines, he added.

According to Prof. Prakash, higher education has been facing a few major challenges — regional imbalances in enrolment, equity, enrolment of candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and minorities, crisis of identity where middlemen play a vital role to increase enrolment in colleges, and lack of effective governance and vision.

NAAC Director H.A. Ranganath explained the role of the council in the higher education system. Representatives of 430 educational institutions received accreditation certificates from NAAC. Around 500 delegates from State universities, deemed universities, and principals of colleges and educational institutions attended the ceremony.

Source: The Hindu, September 17, 2013

Higher education outlay under-utilized during 11th Five Year Plan

Despite a serious lack of capacity in higher education and insufficient trained people to fuel growth, India used only a portion of the funds allocated for the sector in the five years ended March, a parliamentary panel has found. The country aims to spend Rs. 4.13 trillion on higher education during the 12th Five Year Plan period (2012-17), about four times more than the Rs. 849.43 billion allotted during the preceding five years, according to the panel’s report, but the substantial under-utilization can mar its intention.

“Not only the allocation at the BE (budget estimate) stage was below the projected outlay, but it had to be brought down further at the RE (revised estimate) stage with utilization status at the year remaining even lower,” the parliamentary standing committee on human resource development said in its report, tabled in Parliament on Wednesday. The panel said annual spending on higher education in the previous plan period was in some instances as low as 10%.

Distance learning, scholarship and ICT (information, communication and technology) was allocated Rs. 6.24 billion for 2007-08 but only Rs. 676.6 million was spent. In 2011-12, the sector was allocated Rs. 10.43 billion but used only Rs. 3.46 billion. The technical education segment spent only about Rs. 10.66 billion of the Rs. 32.40 billion allocated to it for 2007-08.

The university and higher education segment spent Rs. 45.14 billion against a budgetary allocation of Rs. 60.02 billion in 2011-12. During the entire 11th plan period, this segment spent only about Rs. 176.56 billion of the planned outlay of Rs. 474.44 billion.

This, when India’s gross enrolment ratio (GER) at 20% is below the global average of 26% and far behind that of some developed countries. GER is a measure of the number of young people in the 18-23 age group pursuing higher education in any country. Brazil’s GER is 34% and the US’s enrolment ratio is 83%.

The government has drawn a scheme to improve the skills of 500 million people by 2022, aiming to bridge the education-employability mismatch and provide enough foot soldiers to Indian industries and help grow the economy. India wants to improve its GER to 30% in a decade.

At a skill council meeting on 19 January, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India will need about 260 million skilled people by 2018. Skill training in India is a $20-billion business annually, according to a July report by Kotak Securities Ltd. Around 475 million people will need training by fiscal 2022, it said.

“This makes it clear beyond doubt that there are no fund constraints so far as allocation for higher education sector is concerned. What is required is well-constructed and co-ordinated approach for optimum and judicious utilization of allocated funds,” said the parliamentary panel, which is headed by Congress leader and Rajya Sabha legislator Oscar Fernandes. Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi is a member.

The committee said state governments “have to play very critical role in this regard”. It also advised the Union government to “sensitize the concerned authorities for successful implementation of various centrally sponsored schemes”.

A Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) official said the ministry was aware of the problem and wants all states “to come on board for making higher education a more impactful” sector. “Since the states play a key role in implementing schemes, they should be active in spending allocated funds,” the official said, requesting not to be named. “We will take this up during the (state) education ministers meet next month.”

Commenting on the Planning Commission’s 12th Plan approach paper, which states that about 18% of all government education spending, or 1.2% of the gross domestic product, be spent on higher education, the panel said the funding should be raised to 25% of all government education spending. “Higher education being an important sector for the development of the nation the committee feels that focused attention in terms of resources and funds should be made available for development and quality research and innovation,” the panel said in its report.

Source: Mint, May 11, 2012