The Government has taken steps to enhance access to education with equity and excellence and has launched a number of Schemes including the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), the Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Teacher Education, the setting up of 374 Model Degree Colleges, the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP) and the Sub-Mission on Polytechnics.
Education reforms are a continuous process and the Government seeks to carry them forward through expansion, inclusion and rapid improvement in quality through institutional and policy reforms and by enhancing public spending & creating an enabling environment for private section participation towards imparting quality education. The National Knowledge Commission had recommended a series of initiatives for expansion, excellence and greater access in Higher Education covering regulation, accreditation, governance, curriculum, research, faculty development, financing, asset management, affirmative actions. The Government has already taken various legislative initiatives including making accreditation mandatory for all higher educational institutions to improve quality of higher education.
Government has also opened new institutions of higher learning including- 16 new Central Universities, 7 new Indian Institutes of Management, 8 new Indian Institutes of Technology, and 10 new National Institutes of Technology.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) implements various schemes for improving quality of higher education, such as Universities with Potential for Excellence, Colleges with Potential for Excellence, Special Assistance Programme, Assistance for Strengthening of Infrastructure for Science and Technology, Assistance for Strengthening of Infrastructure for Humanities and Social Sciences, Fellowship Programmes for Research students as well as orientation and refresher programmes for newly appointed and in-service teachers through its Academic Staff Colleges.
The Government has also launched a Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (ICT), to leverage the potential of ICT, in teaching and learning process for the benefit of all the learners in higher education institutions in any time, any where, mode with a budget of Rs. 4612 crores.
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