Edu-leaders

Owing to the lack of information on the subject, the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry will soon be launching a survey on the state of higher education in the country. The ministry has also constituted a task force that will supervise the survey.

The National University of Education Planning and Administration (NEUPA), with the help of educational institutions from across the country, will be conducting the survey. It is expected to be completed in a year’s time.

The task force is headed by the Additional Secretary for Higher Education and has representatives from the University Grants Commission, the All India Council for Technical Education, the Medical Council of India, State Higher Education departments, among others, as its members.

There is lack of reliable data in the higher education sector in India that has held up the implementation of the necessary policy initiatives, said an official from the ministry.

The survey will be based on the model of survey of elementary education that NEUPA conducts every year. It aims at providing substantial and reliable data on higher education in the country and will cover all institutions, both public and private. Therefore, all universities, deemed universities, institutions of national importance, general and professional or technical institutions like medical, engineering, dental, veterinary, computing, management, agriculture, pharmacy, polytechnic, research, industrial training, law and teacher training would be surveyed.

The official also said that the data collected in the survey, on the type of institutions, their affiliation, courses offered, income and expenditure, departments, examination results, enrolment ratio and number of faculty members (teaching and non-teaching staff), would be updated every year.