UGC to kick off higher education revamp soon

NEW DELHI: The regional vice-chancellors (VC) conference will begin in Mumbai from September 13, next week. The conference being led by University Grants Commission (UGC), will discuss the suggestions made by National Knowledge Commission (NKC) for the Eleventh Plan. The decision of holding these conferences follow, from the PM’s instructions, that there be a national-level debate on the issue to bring about sweeping changes in higher education in the country.

While these conferences are yet to commence, UGC is firm on its focus on expansion, which has four dimensions — expansion in enrolments (from 10% to 15%), expansion with quality (maintaining educational standards), expansion with relevant education (creating more courses that will impart the skills necessary for employability) and expansion with equity (involving social inclusiveness).

UGC chairman Sukhadeo Thorat said suggestions like moving away from the grading to credit system to measure performance, laying more emphasis on internal assessment and expanding while retaining quality, are some of the key points on its agenda, similar to the proposals made by NKC.

Thrust this time will be on imparting relevant education while expanding the enrolments and ensuring that there is a fair representation from all sections of society. This will directly impact the need for qualified teachers too. According to Mr Thorat, UGC is taking requisite action to deal with the issue. “One such initiative is the DS Kothari Post-Doctoral Fellowships (PDF) scheme, which has been launched to get high quality research personnel and opportunities for hi-tech research in India,” he added.