GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 706
TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.12.2017
Encouraging students to study in the country
Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:
(a) whether Indian students spent ₹44,000 crore in the United States of America (USA) during 2016-17 which is higher than India's higher education budget of ₹ 30,000 crore;
(b) if so, the steps taken by Government to ensure that this large demand for quality higher education is met by entry of new institutions in the country; and
(c) whether the proposed New Education Policy focuses on encouraging students to study in the country?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
(DR. SATYA PAL SINGH)
(a) India’s Higher Education budget (Actual Expenditure) during 2016-17 was 29019.16 Crore. However, the data regarding spending by Indian Students in USA is not maintained by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
(b) The Central Government and the University Grants Commission (UGC) are taking various measures to improve quality of higher education in the country by way of taking several initiatives. Some of the latest initiatives are:
Other initiatives include:
The UGC undertakes maintenance of standards in teaching and research and quality assurance in Universities, Deemed to be Universities and Colleges through framing regulations and schemes and disbursing grants to the eligible institutions. The UGC has notified and amended several regulations with the objective of sustenance and improvement in the quality of higher education and for undertaking academic reforms. In order to encourage research and development in the country, the UGC is implementing several schemes, awards, fellowships, chairs and programmes.
(c) The Government is in the process of formulating a New Education Policy for which initially, it had constituted a Committee for Evolution of the New Education Policy in October 2015 under the Chairmanship of Shri T.S.R. Subramanian, former Cabinet Secretary to the Government of India which submitted its report in May, 2016. The Report of the Committee is available on the website of National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), which was the Committee’s Secretariat. After perusal of the report of the Committee and the based on reports of various consultations as well as views and comments received, the Ministry prepared “Some Inputs for the Draft National Education Policy, 2016” which is available on the MHRD website. Both these reports have been treated as inputs for education policy formulation. The exercise of preparing a New Education Policy is still ongoing as the Government has recently constituted a Committee for preparation of the Draft National Education Policy under the Chairmanship of Dr. K. Kasturirangan, which is due to submit its report soon.
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