Nueva Delhi: State Public Universities (SPU), which enroll 81% of Indian higher education students, are dealing with severe shortage of the faculty and obsolete infrastructure, affecting academic excellence and research production.
A Niti Aayog policy report, expanding quality higher education through SPUS, published on Monday, highlights that more than 40% of faculty positions remain vacancies, and only 10% SPU has well -equipped research facilities , which significantly affect learning results.
Despite these deficiencies, SPUs remain the most crucial higher education institutions in India, ensuring affordable and inclusive education for more than 3.25 million students. To address these problems, the report recommends Public Investment in Higher Education At 6% of GDP, implement performance -based funds and grant greater autonomy to Spus to improve governance and research capacity.
Spus, which serves as the backbone of the Higher Education sector of India, is struggling with obsolete infrastructure and insufficient research facilities, which limits its ability to produce a shocking academic work. The report warns that access to digital resources remains a challenge, with only 32% of SPU with completely functional digital libraries, which makes students and teachers difficult to access global research databases.
The report emphasizes that more than 40% of the faculty positions remain vacancies in SPU, which leads to a unfavorable students-estuary of 30: 1, compared to the recommended 15: 1. As a result, students receive Academic tutoring and limited research guidance, which affect both their learning and employability results. “Spus must prioritize the recruitment and retention strategies of the Faculty. Without adequate teaching staff, the objective of improving academic standards cannot be achieved,” says the report.
The report indicates that SPU enrollment rates are, on average, 60% lower than those of private institutions, which makes higher education more accessible to students of socially and economically disadvantaged groups (SEDG).
To revitalize Spus, the report proposes a multiple reform strategy. Ask that public investment in higher education rises to at least 6% of GDP, in line with the recommendations of National Educational Policy 2020. It also suggests performance -based financing models to encourage research, greater autonomy for SPU in decision -making and the strongest links in the academic industry to improve postgraduate employability. In addition, initiatives such as the ONE Nation One subscription scheme (ONOS), which provide free access to more than 13,000 global research magazines, must be expanded to benefit all SPUs.
The report emphasizes that government universities, particularly those affiliated with SPU’s struggle with accreditation due to NaAC’s high costs, restricting their access to quality improvement funds. In addition, bureaucratic inefficiencies delay the updates of the curriculum and the recruitment of the faculty, which affects academic quality.