Centre targets five areas for reforms in higher education

Source: This post is based on the article “Centre targets five areas for reforms in higher education” published in Livemint on 1st September 2021.

What is the News?

University Grants Commission(UGC) has identified five key areas of focus in the next phase of reforms in the higher education sector.

Which are those Five Focus Areas?

1. Education Finance: The government will encourage universities to raise money from the market through collaborations, industry projects and sponsored projects.
2. Administration: Universities should promote simplification of methods in administration and finance.
3. Accounting system reforms
4. Central Higher Education Data Repository: UGC to establish a centralised database for pooling of data regarding Higher Educational Institutes(HEIs).
5. Internal Autonomy within the institutions.

Other Focus Areas:

1. Accessibility to internet facilities in rural areas: This is an issue that was exposed during the pandemic as schools and colleges closed their campuses to curb the spread of the virus. This move severely impacted education delivery, more so outside cities.

Significance of these reforms:

1. India has a massive higher education sector with nearly 51,000 colleges, institutions, and universities catering to almost 38 million students.
2. However, the education ministry has always been criticised for over-regulation. Hence, these reforms are being initiated to ease the traditional burden and move on a path of reform.