The Government has decided to set up at least one central university in every state and assist the state governments to set up a degree college in every district. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh announced this on Friday in a meeting to review the state of higher education in the country.
Expressing concern about the country “lagging behind” in higher education, Dr Singh said the challenge should be how to increase enrolment while improving access and quality of higher education.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, which was attended by Union Ministers Arjun Singh, P Chidambaram, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, UGC Chairman S K Thorat and Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan, PM’s Media Advisor Sanjaya Baru said Dr Singh had directed the UGC and the Planning Commission to jointly prepare a strategy for this task.
There are presently 20 central universities in the country, while 16 states do not have a central university and 350 districts do not even have degree colleges.
The Prime Minister also reiterated his commitment to offer more scholarships to increase the gross enrollment rate at the college level.