To achieve these goals, exploring private funding in HEIs is essential. The guidelines aim to enable HEIs to achieve academic and research excellence. Additionally, they focus on improving teaching–learning standards by incorporating private funding sources. HEIs are expected to develop and exercise academic, administrative, financial, and business autonomy with accountability.
The University Grants Commission (UGC), in a meeting held on Tuesday, approved the Guidelines for Institutional Development Plan (IDP) with an emphasis on private funding in HEIs.
The guidelines are aimed at enabling HEIs to achieve academic and research excellence and improving teaching–learning standards. It is also to guide the HEIs to exercise academic, administrative, financial, and business autonomy with accountability.
UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar told The Hindu that the IDP document prepared by UGC provides clear guidance and direction. It helps align the efforts of HEIs towards a shared vision. This ensures that everyone is working in sync towards shared goals. “It outlines the long-term vision, mission, and objectives and the strategies and actions required to achieve these goals, including pursuing private funding.
By adopting this IDP, HEIs can achieve effective functioning, growth, and sustainability through private funding channels. Since it provides a roadmap for success, it improves resource management and fosters a culture of accountability and continuous improvement,” Prof. Kumar said.
Prioritise funding
In the section “How to improve Financial Infrastructure,” the guidelines suggest that HEIs must identify and prioritise funding sources. These include government grants, alumni donations, private sector partnerships, and fundraising campaigns for financial infrastructure development, highlighting the need for private funding in HEIs.
It asks public-funded as well as other HEIs to strive to work on a sustainable revenue model. The revenues should be derived from tuition fees, government grants and subsidies, and overheads earned on sponsored research and development projects. They also come from endowments, philanthropic contributions, and other income like CSR, royalties on intellectual property (IP)/ patents, etc.
“In a fully developed HEI, each of these sources must contribute about a similar percentage to the total revenue, depending on the size of the HEIs. Therefore, HEIs must also focus on expanding their undergraduate programmes. This is because additional students mean more revenue,” it suggested.
Align existing courses
The guidelines are also for planning and implementation so that the HEIs prepare a detailed plan of action. This involves aligning existing courses with the National Education Policy, National Credit Framework, National Higher Education Qualifications Framework, and National Skills Qualifications Framework. It also includes faculty development, capacity development, and training.
The guidelines also speak about how to prepare students on new-age skills, including upskilling and rescaling of the existing workforce in the economy. They will guide the HEIs on multi-disciplinary skills, micro-credentials, and new age certificates. Additionally, they focus on diploma and degree programmes and on improving enrolment in all courses with integrated skilling.
(Source: The Hindu)
