278 new universities to India, says Secretary of Higher Education

278 new universities and 388 colleges have been planned to be created by the Centre, as told by Ashok Thakur, Higher Education Secretary in the HRD Ministry.

"We will be creating about 278 new universities and 388 new colleges. Some of these colleges will be motivated to become universities", he said at an all India convention for ministers for higher education on Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) , UPA government's scheme
Rs 22,500 crores to be spent in the 12th plan under RUSA as proposed by the Centre, as stated by M M Raju, Union HRD Minister.

State governments can support autonomous colleges and institutions with a proper trail of record to give raise to universities brought together a in a cluster approach, for which RUSA shall extend funding, Thakur said. "We want to reduce it to an average of about 100 (colleges per university)" he added.

Many reforms in governing structure like proper accreditation structure, quick redress of disputes through educational tribunals and prevention of malpractices and establishment of National Commission on Higher Education and Research (NCHER) are underway said Raju.

306 state universities and about 8.5 thousand colleges can be covered under RUSA, said the Minister. It is a scheme that has a new approach to financing higher education in state universities.

"It (RUSA) will be based on key principles of performance-based funding, incentivising well performing institutions and decision-making through clearly defined norms", added Raju.

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