With the University Grants Commission (UGC) making NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) accreditation mandatory for all government degree colleges, authorities in the State have woken up to the need for permanent buildings for many colleges that lack the facility.

Of the 145 government degree colleges in the State, so far 95 government colleges, besides 76 private aided colleges, are accredited by the NAAC. The accreditation and subsequent grading by the NAAC is a credible indicator of quality of education imparted by the institutions.

This year, the State is taking up construction of buildings for 25 degree colleges which hitherto functioned from close by junior college buildings.

Funds under RUSA

Funds have been sanctioned under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a Centrally-sponsored scheme, launched in 2013 with an aim to provide strategic funding to eligible State higher education institutions.

Focus on assessment

The Central and State funding is in the ratio of 60:40 respectively. The funding would flow from the Central Ministry through the State government to the State Higher Education Councils before reaching the identified institutions. The funding to States would be made on the basis of critical appraisal of State higher education plans, which would describe each State’s strategy to address issues of equity, access and excellence in higher education.

To improve standard of higher education, the Andhra Pradesh Collegiate Education Department is now focussed on institution-level assessment.

With regard to student-level initiatives, besides the Jawahar Knowledge Centres set up to train students in industry-needed skills, soft skills and computer-oriented skills, a parallel degree programme in collaboration with TISS (Tata Institute of Social Service) has been introduced for training the students in employability skills. Under this, during three-year graduation period, a student can earn certificate in management skills on completion of first year, certificate in domain on completion of second year and a diploma on completion of third year.

“This programme is being implemented in 100 government degree colleges in the State. It is a 350-hour certificate training programme,” said R. David Kumar Swamy, Academic Guidance Officer, Department of Collegiate and Technical Education.

25 government colleges

to get own

buildings

in the State