UGC urges HEIs to attend post-budget webinar on education, skilling initiatives

UGC has requested all higher education institutions to widely disseminate information among students and faculty to attend the post-budget webinar.

Published on: Mar 8, 2026, 17:52:24 IST

By Sanjay Maurya

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The University Grants Commission (UGC) has written to higher education institutions (HEIs) across the country asking them to disseminate information among students and faculty about a post-budget webinar on “education, skills and university townships” scheduled for Monday (March 9).

The webinar is part of the post-budget series on key themes being organised by the finance ministry following the Union Budget 2026–27. It aims to deliberate on the effective implementation of major budget announcements that require interministerial coordination and shared responsibilities for improving education and skilling. The department of higher education (DoHE) under the education ministry is leading the organisation of the webinar.

“The webinar topic will cover important Budget Announcements, inter alia, relating to education, skilling, creative industries, inclusive capacity building, and institutional infrastructure, which require close coordination among concerned ministries and departments for timely and outcome-oriented implementation,” UGC financial adviser Sudeep Singh Jain said in a communication to HEIs dated March 6, 2026.

UGC has requested all HEIs to widely disseminate information among students and faculty to attend the webinar, stating that the discussions will focus on “issues having far-reaching implications for the higher education sector.” Institutions have also been asked to join the opening, breakout and concluding sessions through YouTube links shared by the commission.

The webinar will begin with an opening session to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, followed by parallel breakout sessions on identified budget announcements related to education and skilling, and concluding remarks by Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

In the Union Budget 2026–27, the government announced the constitution of a high-powered ‘Education to Employment and Enterprise’ standing committee for the services sector, the setting up of Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) labs in 15,000 schools, and the establishment of a new National Institute of Design in eastern India, new university townships and four telescope infrastructure facilities.

Meanwhile, the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship (MSDE) said it will host a dedicated breakout session on “strengthening India’s care ecosystem: skilling 1.5 lakh multi-skilled caregivers” as part of the webinar series.

In her budget speech, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that 1.5 lakh caregivers will be trained through programmes aligned with the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF), a competency-based framework that organises qualifications into 10 levels based on knowledge, skills and aptitude.

“The discussions during the session will centre on developing a robust caregiving workforce capable of meeting India’s increasing domestic needs while also tapping into emerging global opportunities in the care economy,” MSDE said.

Insights from the breakout discussions will be presented during the concluding session of the webinar, where Union ministers from participating ministries and departments will outline key recommendations and the way forward for the strategic implementation of the budget announcements, the ministry said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sanjay Maurya
Sanjay Maurya is a Principal Correspondent with Hindustan Times, where he covers education, with a focus on school and higher education, competitive examinations, education policy and governance. Working as part of the National Bureau, he is based in New Delhi and reports on the Ministry of Education and covers various statutory bodies like UGC, AICTE and NCTE and autonomous bodies like CBSE and NCERT. His reporting also tracks the implementation of key government reforms and policies from school education to higher education including in IITs, NITs, IIMs, central and state universities, and their impact on students and educational institutions. His reporting on the irregularities and rushed implementation of CBSE's On-Screen Marking (OSM) system for evaluation of Class 12 board exams 2026, triggered administrative action, leading to the transfer of the board's two senior-most officials and the constitution of a committee to probe alleged irregularities in procurement process of the system. He joined Hindustan Times in December 2024. Prior to that, he had a three-year stint at Careers360, where he reported on school and higher education, entrance examinations, admissions, rankings and various education policies involving universities and professional education bodies. Over the years, Maurya has reported extensively on major developments in India's education sector, including the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, reforms in the National Testing Agency (NTA) following the NEET-UG 2024 controversy, changes in school education, higher education regulation, and the evolution of entrance examinations such as NEET, JEE and CUET. He regularly produces data-driven and explanatory stories based on government documents, parliamentary proceedings, court records and official data. His focus remains on helping readers understand how education policies and institutional decisions affect millions of students, teachers and educational institutions across the country.Read More

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