The Hindu Business Line : 11th Plan hopes to achieve 15% enrolment by 2012

‘Given the international experience that an enrolment of 20 to 25 per cent is a necessity for sustainable economic development, the foremost priority is placed in enhancing GER.’

Our Bureau

Mangalore, Feb. 17 The 11th Plan has set a target of achieving 15 per cent GER (gross enrolment ratio) by the end of 2012, according to Prof Sukhadeo Thorat, Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC).

Delivering the convocation address on the topic ‘Higher education in India - Strategy and action plan for development under new initiatives in the 11th Plan’ at the 26th convocation of Mangalore University here on Saturday, Prof Thorat said that access to higher education in India at the present level is about 10 per cent.

However, this level of enrolment compares poorly with the world average of 23 per cent, and 40 to 80 per cent in developed countries, and more than 35 per cent in many middle income countries.

“Given the international experience that an enrolment of 20 to 25 per cent is a necessity for sustainable economic development, the foremost priority is placed in enhancing GER, so that it is raised to this threshold level. The 11th Plan has, therefore, set the target GER of 15 per cent to be achieved by 2012,” he said. A dual strategy will be adopted to increase GER by 5 per cent during 2008-2012. This includes establishment of new universities and colleges and enhancing the intake capacity of existing universities and colleges. The 11th Plan proposes an increase in the number of IITs, NIITs, IIMs and other technical institutions.

Strategy

The increase in the intake capacity of existing educational institutions will be enabled by provision of regular development grants to universities, colleges and other educational institutions.

The expansion would come more from professional and technical courses.

The conventional courses that are experiencing decline in enrolment should be redesigned to incorporate skill-based courses to increase the enrolment, Prof Thorat said.

At present, several State universities are large, posing management problems. The proposed strategy will include creating new universities of optimal sizes, from the existing ones, so that they are efficient and manageable, he said.

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