Thirty new universities to be set up in XIth Plan

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, Aug 20 (UNI) The government today said it would set up 30 new universities during the Eleventh Plan out of which 16 are to be located in those states having no Central University.

Minister of State for Human Resource Development D Purandeswari told the Rajya Sabha said all these universities would be world class institutions.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during his Independence Day Speech this year, had announced setting up of 30 new universities during the XIth Plan.

''We will first set up 16 universities in those states where no Central University exists. The setting up of the other 14 universities will follow later,'' she said during the Question Hour.

With regard to the private investment in education, she said societies, charitable trusts and NGOs could participate, but it must not be guided by any considerations of profit.

Ms Purandeswari also referred to a series of Supreme Court decisions that prevented commercialisation of education.

Congress leader Karan Singh, however, made a strong case for greater participation of NGOs and charitable bodies in the education sector.

The minister said the UGC was the competent authority to formulate guidelines in this connection.

She also referred to the approach paper on the XIth Plan, which states that ''the role of the private sector in providing high quality education also needs to be recognised and a suitably facilitative environment created to allow such institutions to support our objectives of expanding higher education.'' The minister said the XIth Plan is yet to be finalised.

With regard to the recommendation of the National Knowledge Commission that it was essential to stimulate private investment in higher education, she said the recommendations of the NKC were in ''public domain for a wider national debate, and are yet to be accepted by the Central Government.'' UNI

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