MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)
(a) & (b):The Government has notified the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) on 27th December, 2013 to enable a person to acquire desired competency levels, transit to the job market and at an opportune time, return for acquiring additional skills to further upgrade their competencies and ensure holistic deve- lopment. The UGC is providing grants, within this framework, to universities and colleges under the two schemes namely “Community Colleges” and “B.Voc degree programme” which offer employment oriented skill based vocational courses wherein an industry partner is esse- ntially associated for curriculum development, delivery of courses and assessment of learners. To give further push to skill based vocations, a scheme of “Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhaya KAUSHAL Kendra” has also been approved by the Commission. These schemes provide financial support to meet operational expenditure including enga- gement of guest/ visiting faculty/ resource persons, hiring services, contractual lab staff etc. in creating skilled manpower.
To encourage incorporation of skill oriented and value added, add-on-courses in Colleges/ Universities, the University Grants Commission (UGC) is implementing a Scheme entitled “Introduction of Career Oriented Courses (COCs). Under the scheme, UGC provides financial assi- stance to Universities/Colleges, eligible to receive grants from the UGC, for introduction of COCs at the level of Certificate / Diploma / Advance Diploma which run concurrently with the conventional degree like B.A./ B.Com /B.Sc.
Keeping in view the requirement of the industry and to enhance the employability of graduates, the AICTE has developed the model curriculum of Management, Pharmacy, Architecture, and Town Planning Courses at Degree level and engineering courses at Diploma level.
(c): Yes, Madam. The Government has undertaken several regulatory measures to keep the cost of higher educa- tion affordable. The fee in Centrally Funded Technical Institutions is approved by statutory bodies like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Council for IITs and Cou- ncil of National Institutes of Technology (NITs) for NITs. For other institutions, the Board of Governors of indi- vidual institution determines the fee or the hike in the fee if any. The fee in government universities and colle- ges is nominal. Fee for state private universities is regulated by the concerned state governments.
While the fees payable by the IIT students are gender- neutral, the SC/ST students are exempted from payment of tuition fees irrespective of their parental income. The students, whose parental income is below Rs.4.50 lakh per annum are entitled to free hostel seat, basic messing and pocket allowance. Under the Merit-cum-Means Scholarship, students (Other than SC/ST categories), upto 25% of intake strength, whose annual parental income is less than Rs.6.00 lakh, are also exempted from payment of tuition fee and are paid a stipend for ten months in an academic year. The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) are also providing fee concession and assistances to the students coming from weaker sections as an effort to ensure that the students from weaker sections are not deprived of education be- cause of financial reasons.
Towards supporting economically weaker sections of society, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has a scheme of Tuition Fee Waiver (TFW) for sons & daughter of parents having annual income of less than Rs. 4.5 lakhs from all sources which is mandatory for all AICTE approved technical institutions offering Bachelor, Diploma and Post Diploma programmes. 5% of sanctioned intake per course is supernumerary in nature and are available for these admissions.
UGC has issued the UGC (Establishment and Maintenance of Standards in Private Universities) Regulations, 2003 which provides that the admission procedure and fixation of fees shall be in accordance with the norms/guidelines prescribed by the UGC and other concerned statutory bodies. The UGC has also issued the UGC (Institutions Deemed-to- be Universities) Regulations 2010 which provides that the level of the fees charged for the courses offered in Deemed-to-be universities shall have a reasonable relation to the cost of running the course. The UGC has further issued the UGC (Institutions Deemed- to- be Universities) (Amendment) Regulations 2014. Acco- rding to these amended regulations the Deemed-to-be universities have to mandatorily publish a Prospectus before commencement of admission process indicating the details of the fee structure, the number of seats app- roved for each course, the age limit prescribed for candidates etc. The regulations prohibit such Univer- sities from publishing any advertisement inducing stu- dents for taking admission claiming to be recognized by appropriate authority where it is not so recognized.
The Central Government and the UGC are granting several fellowships and scholarships to meritorious students, as per the guidelines of these schemes, for promotion of excellence along with equity in enrolments to higher educational institutions. The list of UGC fellowships/ scholarships is available at www.ugc.ac.in.
(d): The number of undergraduates, post graduates and doctoral degree holders qualified through full-time regular studies every year in the country, State/UT wise, are available in Tables 4 & 4(a) of the Annual Reports of the All India Survey on Higher Education at http://aishe.gov.in/aishe/reports.
(e): The Government and the UGC have launched various schemes and programmes for integrating skill develo- pment with the higher education sector under the NSQF for improving employability of the educated work force. Macroeconomic measures for stimulating growth in the economy improve employment prospects for the educated human resource. Besides higher education is in itself a merit good empowering and enabling educated citizens to lead better lives.
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