The HRD Ministry finalised and released a five-year vision plan -- 'Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme (EQUIP)' -- to transform higher education in India. (Photo: Twitter/@HRDministry)

In a bid to transform the higher education sector in the country, the Ministry of Human Resource Development on Friday released an ambitious five-year vision plan. The report has been termed as Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme (EQUIP), which will be taken to the Cabinet for approval after inter-departmental consultations. This is in accordance with the decision of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for finalizing a five-year vision plan for each Ministry, an official statement said.

How was the EQUIP vision plan prepared?

For the preparation of the report, 10 groups led by experts -- former Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, Principal Scientific Advisor K Vijay Raghavan, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Pant, former Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan and Rediff.com founder Ajit Balakrishnan -- suggested more than 50 initiatives that would transform the higher education sector completely and would make it more accessible.

This report has been prepared after a detailed exercise done by the experts covering the following ten areas --

strategies for expanding access

towards global best teaching/learning process

promoting excellence

governance reforms

assessment

accreditation and ranking systems

promotion of research and innovation

employability and entrepreneurship

using technology for better reach and internationalisation

financing higher education

In accordance with Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi's direction for preparing five year vision plan, Department of Higher Education, MHRD has prepared the Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme (EQUIP) as the five year plan to be implemented during 2019-24. pic.twitter.com/aB97V4d4lI Ministry of HRD (@HRDMinistry) June 28, 2019

Suggestions to transform higher education

The groups of ten experts drawn from senior academicians, administrators and industrialists have suggested more than 50 initiatives that would transform the higher education sector completely.

Here are some of the initiative suggested to transform the higher education sector as per the HRD Ministry:

recommendations to double the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education

position at least 50 Indian institutions among the top-1000 global universities

introduce governance reforms in higher education for well-administered campuses

promote research and innovation ecosystems for positioning India in the top three countries in the world

It also offers suggestions to double the employability of students passing out of higher education

harness education technology for expanding the reach and improving pedagogy

promote India as a global study destination

achieve a quantum increase in investment in higher education

"For each initiative, the groups have recommended modalities for implementation, investments and timelines. The proposal would now be taken up for inter-departmental consultations and appraisal before being taken to the Cabinet for approval," it added.

(With inputs from ANI)

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