HRD ministry releases five-year vision plan to transform higher education

New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) In a bid to transform the higher education sector in the country, the Ministry of Human Resource Development on Friday released an ambitious five-year vision plan.

The report has been termed as Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme (EQUIP), which will be taken to the Cabinet for approval after inter-departmental consultations.

For the preparation of the report, 10 groups led by experts -- former Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, Principal Scientific Advisor K Vijay Raghavan, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Pant, former Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan and Rediff.com founder Ajit Balakrishnan --suggested more than 50 initiatives that would transform the higher education sector completely and would make it more accessible.

The report contains recommendations to double the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education, position at least 50 Indian institutions among the top-1000 global universities, introduce governance reforms in higher education for well-administered campuses, promote research and innovation ecosystems for positioning India in the top three countries in the world.

It also offers suggestions to double the employability of students passing out of higher education, harness education technology for expanding the reach and improving pedagogy, promote India as a global study destination and achieve a quantum increase in investment in higher education, the ministry said.

"For each initiative, the groups have recommended modalities for implementation, investments and timelines. The proposal would now be taken up for inter-departmental consultations and appraisal before being taken to the Cabinet for approval," it added.