A Scheme for the Development of Higher Education

Rashtriya Uchchatar Shikhsha Abhiyan (RUSA) is the centrally sponsored scheme launched in October 2013 that aims at providing strategic funding to higher education institutions throughout the country. The scheme was proposed during the 12th plan as a holistic plan for the development of higher education in the country by ensuring access, equity, quality and relevance. Earlier the scheme was recommended for the 12th and 13th plan period for funding the state universities and colleges to achieve the excellence in higher education. Recently the government has approved the scheme of RUSA for continuation till 31st March, 2026 or till further review, whichever is earlier. The central funding flows from the Ministry of Education through the state governments, union territories to the State Higher Education Councils (SHEC) before reaching the identified institutions. The funding, in the ratio of 60:40 for general category states, 90:10 for special category states and 100% for union territories, is norm based and outcome dependent. In other words the allocation of funds would be made on the basis of well-defined norms and linked to critical appraisal of State Higher Education (SHE) plans, which would describe each state’s strategy to address issues of equity, access and excellence in higher education. How to tackle these issues is a matter of concern for higher education institutions.

(i) Access: It has been noted that decline in GER (gross enrollment ratio) is higher for certain socio-economically disadvantaged groups based on (i) Gender identities ( female, transgender persons ), (ii) Socio cultural identities (scheduled castes, scheduled tribes), (iii) Geographical identities (students from small villages and towns), (iv) Socio-economic identities (migrant communities and low income households) and (v) Disabilities. The schemes/policies targeted for such groups need to be strengthened to ensure universal coverage and inclusivity.

The GER target for 12th five year plan was 25% and for 13th five year plan was 32%. The NEP-2020 through the implementation of schemes like RUSA, aims to increase the gross enrollment ratio in higher education to 50% by 2035. The expansion of colleges and universities, institutions have been recommended to run open distance learning and online programmes to improve access to higher education which will improve GER in the country.

(ii)Equity: There are wider disparities across geographical regions, genders, socio-economic and socio-religious groups in the country. RUSA has fixed an important goal for the inclusive development accessibility to higher education for the students of all sections of society. These include weaker sections, unprivileged classes, minorities, reserve categories and all genders. Initiatives are required to be taken up to provide equal opportunities to various groups and marginalized sections of the society so that they have easy access to higher education.

(iii) Quality/Excellence: With the widespread expansion of colleges, quality has become a causality. It has led to widespread issues on the quality and relevance of the higher education. To address these concerns the National Policy on Education (NPE, 1986) and Programme of Action (POA, 1992) that spelt out strategic plans for the policies advocated the establishment of an independent national accreditation agency. Consequently, the National ASSESMENT AND ACCREDITATION COUNCIL (NAAC) was established in 1994 as an autonomous body of the University Grants Commission. The mandate of NAAC is to make quality assurance an integral part of the functioning of Higher Education Institutions. For professional institutions we have statutory bodies like All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Medical Council of India (MCI) to maintain the standard of education.

(iv)Relevance: To address the issue of employability, remedies were recommended from time to time. For its redress vocational courses, skill based/job-oriented/add-on courses where introduced in educational institutions. It was observed that less than 5% of the work force in the age group of 19-24 received vocational education in India during 2012-2017. The NEP-2020 aims to ensure that at least 50% of learners in school and higher education should be exposed to the vocational education by 2025. For achieving the target NEP-2020 recommended that vocational education should be integrated in all schools and higher education institutions in a phased manner over the next 10 years. The job has been assigned to committees setup under MHRD and the national skills qualification framework NSQF for this purpose.

Components Under RUSA: RUSA identified 18 components for financial assistance under 12th plan. These components were marked to cover all the basic targets and objectives of access, equity, excellence/quality and relevance.

All the components of the scheme are aimed to attain access, equity and excellence in the higher education system with the greater efficiency, transparency, accountability and responsiveness. Although in the initial phase, objectives of the scheme were set for 12th and 13th five year plan period, however, later the scheme was re-examined with the implementation of NEP-2020 and has been allowed to continue with some revised guidelines and objectives under the new phase till 31st March 2026. It has been envisaged to support around 1600 projects under the new phase of the scheme. New phase of RUSA has a target to reach out the unserved, underserved areas, remote/rural areas, difficult geographies, areas with low GER etc., and to benefit the most disadvantaged groups. The scheme under the new phase has been designed to implement some of the recommendations and objectives of the New Education Policy, which suggests some key changes to the current higher education system; to revamp and re-energize it, to deliver quality higher education with equity and inclusion.

State governments can receive financial assistance for gender inclusion, equity initiatives, ICT,enhancing employability through vocationalisation and skill enhancement. Financial support will also be provided to states for creation of new Model Degree Colleges. State Universities will be supported for multi-disciplinary education and research. Funding will also be provided for undertaking various activities including teaching-learning in Indian languages.

Objectives of the scheme:- The scheme has the following objectives; (1) to achieve the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) target of 50% by 2035; (2) Improve the overall quality of higher education system by ensuring their conformity to the prescribed norms and standards; (3) Adoption of accreditation as a mandatory quality assurance framework; (4) Promoting autonomy in state universities and improving governance in institutions; (5) Ensure reforms in the affiliation, academic and examination (and evaluation) system; (6) Ensure adequate availability of quality faculty in all higher educational institutions and ensure capacity building to all levels; (7) to create an enabling atmosphere in institutions for research and innovation; (8) to correct the regional imbalances in access to higher education by setting up institutions in unserved and underserved areas, and also to improve quality by providing adequate opportunities to the disadvantaged; (9) to integrate the skill development efforts of the government through optimum interventions; (10) to facilitate the creation of State Higher Educational Councils (SHECs).

Allocation of funds under the scheme depends upon performance of the state/ UT and its demonstrated commitment to the reforms agenda. State universities and colleges both 12B and 2(f) compliant, and non-12B and non-2 (f) fall in the target group. Government-aided colleges are entitled to some components (including infrastructure support) as approved by the Project Approval Board (PAB). RUSA is implemented and monitored through institutional structure comprising various bodies at the central, State/UT and institutional levels with clearly defined roles and powers. At national level these bodies are; (i) RUSA Mission Authority (ii) Project Approval Board (iii) Technical Support Group and (iv) Project Directorate (in MHRD). At State or UT level these are; (i) State Higher Education Council (ii) Project Directorate (in state Government), and (iii) Technical Support Group. At institutional level there should be (i) Board of Governors and (ii) Project Monitoring Unit.

Consequent upon the approval of scheme by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 3rd October, 2013, Jammu and Kashmir Government on 25th October 2013 conveyed its willingness to participate in the scheme and to fulfill all the pre-requisites under the scheme. The state Higher Education Council (SHEC) was constituted Vide Govt. order No.1753-GAD of 2013 dated: 27th December 2013, with the then Hon’ble Chief Minister as the Chairperson and the then Hon’ble Education Minister as the Vice- Chairperson. The State Project Directorate, RUSA was also created by the State Cabinet followed by Government order no: 304-HE of 2014 on 13th June 2014. State Higher Education Plan (SHEP) was prepared in consultation with all the stakeholders and in accordance with the guidelines of the scheme. The project was submitted to the central government covering different components of the scheme; which was then approved by the Project Approval Board (PAB) on the funding pattern 90:10. It was under the same scheme that two Cluster Universities at Srinagar and Jammu were created separately; each having five constituent colleges located in their close vicinity. The Srinagar and Jammu Cluster Universities Act was passed by the State Legislative Assembly on 25th of June 2016, when the author of this manuscript was Principal and Nodal Officer of Kashmir Division Colleges (2015-2017).

To conclude, we should continue our efforts and responsibilities of utilizing the funds flowing under the RUSA scheme for the purpose and achieving the set targets. These are provided and to develop our Institutions of higher learning as the seats of excellence, covering all the main objectives of Access, Quality and Relevance.

 By: Prof (Dr) Mohammad Aslam Baba, Former Principal/Dean Engineering & Technology, Cluster University Srinagar