Nellore: Three colleges in SPSR Nellore district are all set to get university status under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) scheme.
In order to make higher education more relevant to global needs and to realise the vital objectives of the 12th Five Year Plan which focuses on expansion, equity and excellence, the ministry of Human Resources Development has rolled out an ambitious scheme.
The scheme is expected to lay greater emphasis on improving the quality of teaching-learning and research by providing adequate inputs and implementing governance and regulatory reforms in the higher education sector.
The scheme will be implemented through MHRD with matching contribution from the respective state governments in the ratio 65:35.
The Union government has earmarked Rs 16,227 crore and the share of the state governments will be Rs 6,628 crore.
One of the components of RUSA is creation of universities by upgrading of existing autonomous colleges. As many as 45 autonomous colleges, which were enjoying the status granted by the UGC in 2008, have been identified for university status across the country.
The first one to be elevated as university in the region is the DRW College located in Gudur. The institute is accredited by NAAC already and it will receive Rs 55 crore as grant under RUSA now.
The other two colleges which stand to benefit and become universities are Jawahar Bharathi College, Kavali and NBKR Educational Institutes, Vakadu. Vice-chancellor of Vikrama Simapuri University (VSU) Prof. Rajarami Reddy shared this information while speaking to this newspaper.
He said that VSU will also get a grant of Rs 20 crore under RUSA for critical projects like upgrading libraries, laboratories, equipment, hostels and toilets.
According to Rajarami Reddy VSU is one of the 150 public universities across the country identified for grant of Rs 20 crore each during the current plan period.
RUSA funds will be made available to colleges offering professional courses and polytechnics also apart from arts and science colleges. RUSA funding channels goes to higher education institutes through respective state governments and higher education councils.
The allocation of funds is based on the well defined norms of academic, administrative and governance reforms in the state higher education system.
