Mumbai: Students of colleges and various institutes may benefit as the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shikshan Abhiyan (RUSA) has supported the ‘Maharashtra Mission 500’ project of the state to improvise 500 colleges, institutes and universities. A budget of Rs 271 crore has been agreed upon by RUSA for developing and improving quality of higher education of the state. The state plans to seek advice from experts to help colleges and universities in securing better ranks and grades to gain this fund.
The state has outlined its on-ground goals under RUSA 2.0 which include facilitating 200 colleges to gain autonomy, reforms in academic curriculum, add-on courses, evaluation technique and marking schemes. It also focuses on encouraging research work, increasing patents, research proposals and setting up a placement cell which will help guarantee 50 per cent jobs on campus to students.
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The higher and technical education department plans to set up a Maharashtra State Assessment and Accreditation Assistance Cell (MSAAC). This cell will guide institutes about getting accreditation and help prepare self-assessment reports based on the requirement of the ranking agencies. The main aim of the state is to help colleges and universities to improve ranking in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), getting A grade from National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and gain better funding from the Centre. The funding under RUSA from central government will be awarded only to a few institutions of the country.
The grant of Rs 55 crore for upgrading autonomous colleges to universities will be given only to three colleges in the country. While, grant of Rs 55 crore for creation of cluster universities will be benefited by three colleges. A grant of Rs 20 crore will be given for improving infrastructure of around 50 universities and grant of Rs 5 crore for enhancing quality in autonomous colleges will be benefited by 70 colleges of India.
Colleges and universities of Mumbai and Maharashtra will have to compete with colleges and universities from across the country to get this funding from the Centre under RUSA.
[“Source-freepressjournal”]
