In pursuance  Prime Minister’s vision for ‘Transforming India’, Ministry of Human Resource Development took a leap forward in transforming Education sector with the motto of “सबकोशिक्षा, अच्छीशिक्षा ”(Education for All, Quality Education).

In the year of 2019 Dr K. Kasturirangan Committee submitted the Draft National Education Policy to Union HRD Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’. The Government of India had initiated the process of formulating a New Education Policy to meet the changing dynamics of the requirements of the population with regard to quality education, innovation and research, aiming to make India a knowledge superpower by equipping its students with the necessary skills and knowledge and to eliminate the shortage of manpower in science, technology, academics and industry. MHRD has launchedPradhan Mantri Innovative Learning Program (DHRUV) to identify and encourage talented children to enrich their skills and knowledge .MHRD also launched several new schemes in Higher Education Department to boost research & Innovation culture in the country. Department of Higher Education of HRD Ministry has finalized and released a five-year vision plan named Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme (EQUIP). SWAYAM 2.0, Deeksharambh andPARAMARSH are some of the other major schemes of Department of Higher Education launched in 2019.

1. Five-year vision plan ‘Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme (EQUIP)’ finalised and released by HRD Ministry:

• In accordance with the decision of the Prime Minister for finalizing a five-year vision plan for each Ministry, the Department of Higher Education of HRD Ministry has finalized and released a five-year vision plan named Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme (EQUIP). This report has been prepared after a detailed exercise done by the Experts.
• Sets out to deliver further on principles of Access,Inclusion,Quality,Excellence and enhancing employability in Higher Education.
• EQUIP is a vision plan aiming at ushering transformation in India’s higher education system by implementing strategic interventions in the sector over five years (2019-2024).
• EQUIP has been prepared based on reports of Ten expert groups constituted to deliberate upon important aspects of Higher Education.
• Currently EQUIP has been submitted for in principal approval of EFC.

2. Institution of Eminence (IoE):

• 10 institutions in public sector and 10 institutions in private sector have to be declared as IoE.
• Each Public institute (IoE) will be eligible to receive Rs. 1000 crore during next 5 years.
• 10 Public Institutions are IISc Bangalore, IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur,  University of Hyderabad, Banaras Hindu University, University of Delhi, Jadavpur University & Anna University.

• 10 Private institutions are BITS Pilani, MAHE Karnataka, Jio Institute, Amrita Vishwavidyapeetham, Tamil Nadu , Vellore Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Odisha, O.P. Jindal Global University, Haryana, Bharti Institute, Satya Bharti Foundation, Mohali, Shiv Nadar University, Uttar Pradesh.

3.   Scheme for Transformational and Advanced Research in Sciences (STARS)

• Launched in February, 2019. To be implemented, monitored and managed by IISc, Bangalore.
• For providing extra mural funding to faculty of HE institutions for research projects in basic sciences.
• Total budget of Rs. 250 crore has been allocated out of which Rs. 50 crores will be released in FY 2019-20.
• More than 1000 proposals received, out of these 141 proposals approved.

4.   Higher Education Financing Agency

• HEFA finances for HEIs, KVs, NVs, AIIMS and other educational institutions of the Ministry of Health.
• To fund projects to the tune of Rs. 100,000 crore by 2022.
• As on 11^th December, 2019, projects worth Rs. 37,001.21 crore have been approved.
• A loan amount of Rs. 25,564.52 crore have been sanctioned and Rs. 5,537.06 crore have actually been disbursed
• The number of educational institutions that have availed funding through HEFA stands at 75.

5.   Construction of permanent Campuses in IISER Tirupati and Berhampur

• Permanent campuses of  IISER, Tirupati & IISER Berhampur will be setup by funding through HEFA with capital cost of Rs. 1137.16 crore & Rs. 1229.32 crores respectively
• Both institutes has been sanctioned Rs. 525 crore each in first tranche.

6. RashtriyaUchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA)

• Rs.5871.82 crore including Rs. 801.82 crore during the FY 2019-20 has been released to State Governments.

7. Impactful Policy Research in Social Science (IMPRESS)

• to support the social science research in the higher educational institutions and to enable research to guide policy making.
• A total cost of Rs.414 Crore for implementation up to 31.3.2021. The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi is the project implementing agency.

8. Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC)

• 394 proposals totalling Rs. 251.09 Crores have been approved in the first call for proposals.
• Rs. 80 crores have been released to IIT Kharagpur for FY 2019-20 under SPARC.

9.National Education Policy

• Currently, the Ministry is in the process of finalising the National Education Policy, 2019
• based on the Draft NEP report submitted by the Committee to Draft NEP, and the stakeholder feedback thereon.

10.SWAYAM 2.0

• Launch of SWAYAM 2.0 with enhanced features and facilities.
• To offer Online Degree Programmes through SWAYAM by Top Ranking Universities.

Key Features of SWAYAM 2.0 –

• Higher Scalability and Performance
• Enhanced features for faculty and students
• Improved assessment and evaluation
• Internationalisation
• Translation to Indian languages
• Local chapters and mentors
• Offering of On-line Degrees

SWAYAM 1.0 was Launched on 9^th July 2017 by the President of India with the Objectives ofEqual access to Quality education ,Increase GER in Higher Education from 26 to 30 in next 5 years and Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime learning

In SWAYAM platform

• 2800+ courses offered
• 1.23 Crore students enrolled in the courses
• Examinations conducted across 125 cities across India
• Over 5 lakh students obtained certificates

11. SWAYAM PRABHA- DTH Educational Channels:

• Project for telecasting high quality educational programs through 32 DTH channels on 24×7 basis to reach out to student/learners of India with wide reach and minimal cost.
• It aims to support those students who do not have good learning options like lack of teacher or internet etc. It also aims to provide dedicated channels ‘IITPAL’ to assist the students of 11 and 12 standards aspiring to join premier educational institutions in the country.
• SWAYAM Prabha project is managed by Chief Coordinator from IIT Madras.
• All 32 channels are telecasting high quality curriculum mapped educational contents on 24×7 basis.
• Every day, there will be new content for at least (4) hours which would be repeated 5 more times in a day.
• All telecasted videos are available on YouTube as archival.
• Total telecasted videos are around 60,000.
• On YouTube there are 4,12,403 subscribers and 2,05,70,482 views.

12. Scheme for Higher Education Youth in Apprenticeship and Skills (SHREYAS)

A new  Scheme for Higher Education Youth in Apprenticeship and Skills (SHREYAS) was launched for providing industry apprenticeship opportunities to the general graduates exiting in April 2019 through the National Apprenticeship Promotional Scheme (NAPS). The program aims to enhance the employability of Indian youth by providing ‘on the job work exposure’ and earning of stipend.

13. Study in India Programme:

• An initiative of MHRD

• Total Number of Registrations on Study in India Portal was 69012 from across 190 countries of the world.
• Total Number of Admissions till date around 3800.
• 1800+ scholarships awarded.
• Education Fairs conducted in Malaysia, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
• Approval received to start IND-SAT examination in April 2020.

14.     Scholarship Schemes

• Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students (CSSS) : 37293 scholarships disbursed involving an amount of Rs 44.66 crores in F.Y. 2019-20.
• Special Scholarship Scheme for Jammu and Kashmir :10720 scholarships disbursed involving an amount of Rs 165.82crores in F.Y. 2019-20.
• Central Sector Interest Subsidy Scheme (CSIS) :Total 935497 interest subsidy claims involving an amount of Rs 1584.69 crores in F.Y. 2019-20.

15.     ASEAN Fellowship

• Launched on 16th September, 2019 by MHRD & MEA.
• 1000 fellowships to the students of ASEAN countries for pursuing integrated Ph.D programmes in IITs.

16.     Launch of the Endowment Fund of IIT Delhi

• Launched on 31.10.2019.
• Will work towards building a relation of trust and credibility with its alumni through better communication, professionally managed team structure and periodic reporting.

• The Alumni are coming together to make an initial contributions to the tune of INR 100 Crores towards the target of USD 1 billion that will be created over a period of six to seven years (2025).

18.     Central Universities

•  Two new Central University in the State of Andhra Pradesh have been established in August, 2019 namely: Central University of Andhra Pradesh and Central Tribal University of Andhra Pradesh.

19.       Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs)

• IIIT has been opened at Raichur (Karnataka) from July, 2019 in PPP Mode. IIT Hyderabad is the Mentor Institute.
• Financial allocation for this in year 2019-20 is 03 crores.

20.     Language Institutes:

• The proposals to convert the three Sanskrit Deemed to be Universities namely, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan (RSKS), Delhi, Sri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha (SLBSRSV), New Delhi and Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha (RSV), Tirupati has been passed in Lok Sabha and is proposed to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha in the forthcoming budget session of Parliament.
• Central Institute of Classical Telugu shifted from Mysore to Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh.
• Fund allocation for National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) & National Council for Promotion of Sindhi Language (NCPSL) is Rs 84 Crore and 5.65 Crore respectively in both the years 2018-19 & 2019-20.
• In the FY 2019-20, For Langauage Institutions a total of Rs 52.84 Crores has been allotted.

21.   National Institutes of Technology & Indian Institutes of Engineering Science and Technology:

• Foundation stone for permanent campus of NIT, Uttarakhand has been laid by the HRM. 10% EWS reservation has been implemented.
• NIT Think Tank Group has been constituted to suggest ways for improving NIRF rankings of NITs & IIEST.

22.       Filling up of vacancies in Higher Educational Institutes

• Vacancy position in centrally funded higher education under MHRD is updated on every friday.
• Vacancy position in state funded institutions is maintained by RUSA.
• Since June-19, advertisements have been issued for 12272 faculty vacancies in CFIs and 1507 posts filled up.
• In HEIs under State Govts, 25419 faculty vacancies advertised since June-19 and 6170 posts filled up.

23. Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) :

• For IITs an amount of Rs 5616.77 Crores has been Budgetary allotted in FY 2019-20.
• After including an amount of Rs 526.25 crore through HEFA, the total allocation mounted to Rs 6143.02 crores.

24.       UNESCO Activities

• Organisation of ‘World Youth Conference on Kindness’ by MGIEP in partnership of MHRD on 23.08.2019 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi
• Nomination of four Indian cities i.e. Srinagar, Mumbai, Lucknow and Hyderabad for the UNESCO Creative City Network.

Coordination of INCCU with Ministry of Culture :-

• UNESCO Reactive Monitoring Mission : Mrs. Nao Hayashi, UNESCO, Paris and  Dr. Michael Pearson,  ICOMOS, Australia, Members of Reactive  Monitoring  Mission  nominated  by  UNESCO  World  Heritage  Centre  visited Mountain Railways of India – World Heritage Sites and give-suggestions for maintaining of World Heritage Status. For this purpose, the team met the Deputy Secretary-General of INCCU on 12.12.2019. Representatives of Ministry of Culture and ASI were also present in the meeting.
• Nominations for Reconstitution of Indian National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO have been called from Ministry of Culture.
• Nominations for 40^th General Conference of UNESCO were called from Ministry of Culture
• Forwarding of communication from UNESCO that in the framework of the forthcoming Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, an Information and exchange session took place on 3 October 2019 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
• International Center for Documentary Heritage (ICDH) of UNESCO, newly established UNESCO Category II Institution in the Republic of Korea specialized in documentary heritage-related issues including UNESCO Memory of the World (MoW) Programme, organized its first capacity-building workshop for Member States. The workshop was held in Daejeon, Republic of Korea, from 19 to 22 November 2019.
• Forwarding a letter received from the Assistant Director-General for Culture, inviting GoI to participate in the thirteenth meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the 1954 Hague Convention, scheduled to take place on 2 December 2019, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Room XI, at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.
• Forwarding a letter received from Assistant Director-General for Culture, inviting GoI to participate the seventh meeting of the Parties to the Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. This session will take place on 3 and 4 December 2019, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Room XI, at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.
• In consultation with Ministry of Culture, nominations of four Indian Cities for UNESCO Creative Cities Network sent to UNESCO

Coordination of INCCU with Ministry of Communication :-

• Nominations for 40th General Conference of UNESCO were called from Ministry of Communication

Coordination of INCCU with Ministry of Environment &Forest :-

• Forwarding the proposal of Panna Biosphere Reserve (PBR) received from Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change for inclusion in the World Network of Biosphere Reserve of UNESCO.

25.       International Cooperation

• Launch of DUO- India Fellowship Programme. Exchange of faculty and students would be taken up between India and 14 European countries which come under SPARC.
• Initiated the process of setting up of a chair in a University in the UK on Guru Nanak Dev Ji in commemoration of 550^th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji in coordination with University Grants Commission (UGC).
• Study in India Programme:  Number of Foreign students admitted under Study in India Programme for the Academic Year 2019-20 is 3164.
• Bilateral Meetings by Union HRD Minister during UNESCO’s General Conference 13-15.11.2019)

Date: 13.11.2019 : Norway, Mexico, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, UAE

Date: 14.11.2019 :  Singapore, Saudi Arabia

Date: 15.11.2019 : Uganda, Nepal

26.  National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT):

• Finalized a newly proposed scheme i.e. National Education Alliance of Technologies (NEAT) through PPP Model between MHRD and EdTech companies
• for offering Adaptive and personalized learning through Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• to the students with specific emphasis on students from economically and socially backward regions..

27.Annual Refresher Programme In Teaching (ARPIT)

• Launched in 2018.
• The first round of training was completed in March 2019 with the conduct of examination.
• For ARPIT 2018, 75 NRCs identified, 9 deleted due to non- adherence of timelines; 51000+ enrolments, with actual enrolment being 37199 (one learner registering in more than one course). Of these, 6411 faculty registered for exam, 3338 qualified and in re-examination 469 qualified thereby a total 3807 faculty qualified ARPIT 2018
• UGC as per their notification recognised ARPIT as equivalent to a refresher course for their career advancement.

• Funding for NRCs is as per the approved budget for development of online MOOCs faculty refresher courses under National Resource Centres (NRCs) through SWAYAM which is Rs. 14.70 lakhs.
• An additional provision of Rs. 5 Lakh has been provisioned for meeting of Advisory Council / workshop and other contingency expenditure.
• In order to popularise the ARPIT 2019, this time Ministry used the database of Higher education faculty in the disciplines notified as NRCs and intimated each of the faculty individually through SMS and e-mails informing them about ARPIT program offered by different NRCs in distinctive disciplines persuading them to log in and join this online program and get benefit from it.
• Total 1,46,214 learners enrolled for 48 ARPIT courses.

28.  University Grants Commission (UGC) : Implementation of Quality Improvement Programme

• Deeksharambh –

A guide to Student Induction Programme’ has been launched on 18.07.2019. In 8 Regional Workshops 1650 candidates participated. Total 319 HEIs have implemented the Student Induction Programme.

• Learning outcomes based curriculum framework (LOCF) revision: New curriculum in 16 subjects which is based on LOCF has been uploaded on UGC website to facilitate universities to revise the curriculum.

• Use of ICT based learning tools for effective teaching learning process: 125 Universities have come on board for accepting credit transfer for MOOCs courses done through SWAYAM platform.

• Life skills (Jeevan Kaushal) for students : The curriculum launched on 11^th September, 2019

• Social and Industry connect for every institution: Every institution shall adopt at least 5 villages for exchange of knowledge and for the overall social/economic betterment of the village communities.

• Induction training for all new teachers, and annual refresher training for all the teachers – role of the NCRs; and mandatory leadership/management training for all educational administrators.

• Scheme for Trans-disciplinary Research for India’s Developing Economy (STRIDE): launched on 01.07.2019 for Promoting quality research by faculty and creation of new knowledge.

• PARAMARSH– A scheme to mentor institutions seeking National Assessment and Accreditation Council accreditation Launched on 18^th July, 2019.

29.     AICTE achievements:

• Training for Technical Teachers: “A comprehensive training Policy for Technical Teachers” introduced for the first time in the world.
  • Target: 30,000 fresh faculties & 30,000 faculties having up to 5 years of teaching experience are to be trained every year.
• Revision of Curriculum: Diploma in Engg. & Tech. (7 Disciplines); B. Arch.

• ATAL Academy: 11 Academies launched covering as many states; Conducted 100 FDPs in thrust areas.

• Protsahan Mudra Scheme: Android App has been developed and launched.

• Mandatory Induction Program: 120 Faculty Development Programs; 15,000+ Faculties Trained.

• Examination Reforms: To test the understanding of the concepts and the skill – rather than the subject knowledge. 2250 teachers participated in 17 Workshops held in 2019.

• Mandatory Internship: Over 1 Lakh internships posted on an exclusive portal developed by AICTE.

• Smart India Hackathon 2019: Over 3 lakh students participated at 66 centers.

• One Student One Tree: More than 55,000 AICTE Institutions Participated; More than 2 Lakhs Students Participated; More than 28 Lakh trees Planted.

• Jal Shakti Abhiyan: More than 34000 Students of AICTE colleges mapped to the local administration of water- stressed districts.

30.EK BHARAT SHRESHTHA BHARAT :

• Celebrating Diversity to Realise Unity

• 4 Lakh Plus people across country participated/ witnessed range of activities
• About 16 states showed enthusiasm & regular activity
• 358 Schools, 227 HEIs, 28 states, 7 Uts, 7 Central Ministries participated
• About 1000 activities of Literary, Cultural, Sports, Culinary & Student Exchanges etc. held
• Same pairing of States/ UTs to be continued till June 2020.
• 8 Participating Ministries :Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Sports,  Department of Youth Affairs , Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting,  Ministry of Defence
• activities  : Student Exchange , Teacher Exchange , Youth Festival , EBSB Day , EBSB Clubs , Screening of Films, Translation of Books

31.Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan :

• SwachhtaPakhwada 2019  for HEIs conducted during 1^st-15^th September
• Swachhata Hi Seva 2019 observed in HEIs from 11^th September to 27^th October, 2019
• 6900 institutions participated in Swachhta Ranking exercise. Swachhta Awards  given to HEIs on 3^rd December, 2019
• BBA and MBA Courses on Waste Management Launched

  32.  FIT India Movement:

• Fitness Pledge taken by HEIs on 29^th August, 2019.
• FIT India Plogging Run organised on 2^nd October, 2019 in Universities and Colleges.
•  Participants collected plastic garbage while running.

Other Activities Proposed:

• Fitness Hour – Every HEI to provide for a  fitness hour in its daily routine from January 2020.
• Fitness Clubs – Each Institution to have a fitness club that will lead the activities during Fitness Hour
• Monthly, theme based Fitness Awareness Campaigns – Every Institution to carry out month long campaign on selected themes related to various aspects of fitness
• Sports Competitions – Every HEI to organize annual sports competitions, which will lead to State level and National level University games.
• First University Games to be held in Odisha in February 2020
• Star Rating of Universities based on performance on the above Fitness promoting criteria

33. 70^th Anniversary of Indian Constitution :

• A year long, mass awareness campaign was launched on the Constitution Day – 26^th November 2019 in institutions of Higher Education across the country
• 155075 students and faculty from over 700 universities and colleges viewed the live telecast from Central Hall of Parliament and read the Preamble to the Constitution
• Kartavya Portal launched
• An online, National Essay Competition for students of HE Institutions announced
• The competition to be held in 11 rounds, one every month, focussing on one Fundamental Duty
• Over 5000 students registered for Ist round to be held on 26^th December
• National Law University, Delhi is the national coordinating university, 25 state coordinating universities
• Competition to be held through NTA, registration through the portal – kartavya.ugc.ac.
• Debates, Mock Parliaments, MOOT Courts
• workshops, guest lectures by eminent jurists, poster making , slogan writing, street plays

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