Aiming to raise enrolment

Updated on: Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The UGC chief says the aim is to increase higher education enrolment ratio to 15 per cent by 2012.

Sukhdeo Thorat is an economist and currently holds charge as Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC). He has been a member of several bodies such as Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology (CAPART), Social Justice Division of Planning Commission, Academic Council of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Central University, and Centre for Buddhist Studies, Himachal Pradesh University, and in the governing bodies of many more institutions. He has authored 13 books and published more than 70 research papers in national and international journals. He has worked on more than 25 research projects and was awarded Padma Shri in 2008 in recognition of his services.

Prof. Thorat spoke to Chitra V. Ramani about various aspects of higher education, including improving quality and excellence and increasing the enrolment ratio. Here are excerpts of the interview:

What are the means envisaged by the 11th Plan to expand the reach of higher education in the country?

The main objective of the 11th Plan (2007-2012) is expansion of enrolment in higher education with inclusiveness, quality and relevant education.

The 11th Plan has set a target of increasing the enrolment ratio from the current 11 per cent to 15 per cent by 2012.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development wants to increase it to at least 21 per cent during the 12th Plan. We can achieve this in two ways — by increasing the number of quality institutions and by increasing the intake capacity of existing institutions.

The Ministry has taken the initiative to establish 30 Central Universities, 20 National Institutes of Technology, eight Indian Institutes of Technology, seven Indian Institutes of Management, 270 polytechnics, one tribal university and more than 300 model colleges.

With regard to increase of intake capacity, the grants to educational institutions have been increased substantially.

The allocation to higher education during the 10th Plan was just Rs. 8,000 crore, which was increased to Rs. 45,000 crore for the 11th Plan. This is considered to be the second wave of expansion in the higher education sector.

Inclusive education is an integral part of the 11th Plan. Your assessment of the inclusiveness of higher education?

We understand that expansion of higher education has to come with inclusiveness. Our gross enrolment ratio (GER) of 11 per cent is too low compared to the world average of 23 per cent, 36.5 per cent for countries in transition and 55 per cent for developed countries. Of the 584 districts in the country, GER is lower than the national average in 373 districts.

Of the total educationally backward districts, about three per cent have GER of less than three per cent, while it varies between three and six per cent in 21 per cent of the districts, six and nine per cent in 38 per cent, and nine and 12 per cent in 37 per cent of the districts.

The increase will have to come from the regions where the enrolment is relatively low.

According to our own studies, we have found that the GER of urban areas is three times higher compared to that of rural areas. Disparities exist even in inter-caste/tribe, gender, religious groups, poor and non-poor and occupational groups.

The GER among different religious groups showed marked disparities. Access to higher education is generally lower for girls compared to boys with the GER for males being 12.42 per cent and 9.11 per cent for females.

Similarly, the GER among the poor was 2.21 per cent while it was 12.36 per cent for the non-poor.

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Aiming to raise enrolment

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