It has become easy for colleges without permanent affiliation with universities to secure funds for developmental activities from the University Grants Commission (UGC). To secure the fund the colleges should have a good rating from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).

The UGC is a statutory body of the Indian government constituted in1956 which co-ordinates theuniversities in the country.  It is responsible for determining and maintaining the standards of universities and higher education in India.

The steering committee on Higher and Technical Education

The steering committee on higher and technical education (H&TE) appointed by the Planning Commission for the 12th five year plan (2012 to 2017) made strong recommendation to the UGC to adopt a more flexible approach in providing funds to colleges that are accredited by NAAC, without considering the nature of  affiliation of the college to any university.

The Present UGC norms

According to the present norms, the UGC provides grants to those colleges which comes under section2 (f) of the UGC act, 1956 and is declared eligible to get UGC grants under various schemes. As on 31.3.2006there are 6014 colleges that are included under section 2 (f) and 12 (b) of the UGC act 1956. Out of 6014 colleges 5449 colleges have be announced eligible for getting central assistance, which will also include UGC grants under section 12 (b) of UGC act 1956. The remaining 565 colleges are not declared to fit to get central assistance. Those colleges are recognized under section 2(1) of the UGC act 1956, but will be fit to receive central assistance only if they fulfill the conditions laid down to receive that status.

Recognition for Colleges

The UGC has announced requirements for recognition of colleges under the Section 2 (f) of the UGC act 1956.  The colleges are brought under the scope of UGC based on the adherence of colleges to the regulations and on the basis of proposals that are given by the colleges for including them under section 2 (f). They are included only if they are found fit for inclusion as per the provisions contained in the regulation.

In addition to inclusion under section 2 (f) of the act, the UCG brings colleges within the scope under section 12 (b) of the UGC act, 1956, based on the rules framed under this act. This will make the colleges eligible to get central assistance from the Government of India or from any other bodies receiving fund from the central government.

The composition of the steering committee for H&TE

The steering committee on Higher and technical education is comprised of fifty seven members. Narendra Jadhav, plan panel member heads the steering committee. The committee was set up by the Human Resource Development ministry in April, in order to aid the formulation of the 12th five year plan. The committee consists of scientists, academic experts, bureaucrats, industrialist, corporate executives and administrators. The eminent personalities in the committee included Gajanan Ekbote, educationist and head of the Progressive Education Society and Bhushan Patwardhan, vice chancellor at the Symbiosis International University.

The report from the committee

The committee has finalized its report on October 24, and it will be submitted to the planning commission and finally to the Union Cabinet for the final approval. The report has a complete view of the various changes that should be brought into the Higher and technical education sector. The changes are aimed at improving the governance, quality of education, standards, expansion etc.

Five groups working for higher education

There are five working groups under the steering committee, which is set up for developing strategy for the 12th five year plan in terms of higher education, technical education, Public Private Participation (PPP) in higher education, human resource development for science and technology and use of Indian languages in education.

Seven sub groups for various other aspects of higher education

There are seven sub groups that look into issues like development of new central institutions, increasing the enhancement of gross enrolment ratio (GER), different strategies to find fund for state and university colleges, providing financial assistance to students, employability and community engagement. The Gross enrolment ratio is the percentage of individuals under the age group of 18 to 24 securing admission for higher education in institutions across the country.

Statistics from the report

The report of the committee says that the GER in India is just13.5 per cent, which is far below the Asian average which is 21 per cent. In the case of western counties is above 50 per cent. The Kothari Commission has recommended a spending of 6 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). But still the spending is only 3.58 per cent of the GDP. In the 3.58 per cent the H&TE gets only .7 per cent. The research and development gets only .8 per cent. The committee plans to increase the spending to 1.5 per cent on Higher and technical education and 2 per cent on Research and development. The main objective of the committee is to increase the gross enrolment ratio to 15 per cent and to 30 per cent by the end of 2020.

The committee had conducted a S.W.A.T analysis of the present state of the Higher and Technical Education in the country and they have made recommendations based on the analysis. Ekote says that some of the recommendations will be incorporated in the Rashtriya Uchch Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA). Those recommendations include upgrading of autonomous colleges to the status of college with potential for excellence (CPE) status and upgrading NAAC “A” grade institutions as university level institutions. It also includes recommendations to promote evening universities and evening colleges. The other recommendations are introduction of integrated UG or PG courses, increasing the intake capacity of the existing higher education institutions, introducing college cluster universities and promoting nonprofit public private partnership projects in higher education. The college cluster universities is a group of ten 10 different colleges that will work as a university.