New Delhi (The Hawk): National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) unequivocally endorses and envisions a substantial increase in public investment in education by both the Central government and all State Governments to reach 6% of GDP. The Policy also calls for the rejuvenation, active promotion, and support for private philanthropic activity in the education sector. As far as Ministry of Education is concerned, there has been increase in budget allocation from Rs. 99,311.52 crore (2020-21) to Rs. 1,12,899.47 crore (2023-24), which is around 13.68 % increase. As per Analysis of Budgeted Expenditure on Education 2018-19 to 2020-21, total expenditure on education as percentage of GDP has shown increasing trend and for the year 2020-21 it is 4.64%.
NEP 2020 provides for facilitation of research/teaching collaborations and faculty/student exchanges with high-quality foreign institutions. It also encourages high performing Indian universities to set up their campuses in other countries, and similarly, selected universities e.g., those from among the top 100 universities in the world will be facilitated to operate in India. Accordingly, UGC has issued ‘Academic Collaboration between Indian and Foreign Higher Educational Institutions to offer Twinning, Joint Degree and Dual Degree Programmes Regulations’ on 02.05.2022. It inter-alia promotes enhanced academic collaboration with foreign higher educational institutions leading towards academic and research excellence in the Indian higher educational institutions. Also, to promote affordable world class academic and research facilities World Class Institutions Scheme was launched in the year 2017. The regulatory framework of the scheme provides for identifying 10 institutions each from the public and private category to grant them the status of an ‘Institution of Eminence' (loE). So far, 12 institutions have been notified as ‘Institutions of Eminence’ (loE) which include 08 institutions from the public category and 04 institutions from the private category.
Global Initiative for Academic Network (GIAN) has also been implemented which seeks to tap the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs from abroad, including those of Indian origin, to augment the country’s existing academic resources. The Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC), aims at improving the research ecosystem of India’s higher educational institutions by facilitating academic and research collaborations between top ranked Indian Institutions and globally ranked foreign institutions, through joint research projects involving mobility of students and faculty.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for setting up of campus of IIT Madras in Zanzibar- Tanzania has been signed between the Ministry of Education (MoE), Govt. of India, IIT Madras and Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) Zanzibar- Tanzania, first ever IIT campus to be set up outside India. Similarly, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Ministry of Education and Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK), and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) to establish 1st campus of IIT Delhi in Abu Dhabi.
As announced by Hon’ble Finance Minister in the Budget Proposal 2022-23, world-class foreign universities and institutions have been permitted in the GIFT City, Gujarat (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) to offer courses in Financial Management, FinTech, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics free from domestic regulations, except those by International Financial Services Centers Authority (IFSCA) to facilitate availability of high-end human resources for financial services and technology.
The details of some significant achievements made after the announcement of NEP 2020 for the past 3 years is given in Annexure.
