Panel will focus on quality of education

The state higher and technical education department had been working on the formation of a panel to suggest improvements in higher education for the last six months.

The state higher and technical education department had been working on the formation of a panel to suggest improvements in higher education for the last six months.

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“This has been under deliberation for the last six months. There has been a prevailing sense that Maharashtra could have done better in higher education. We have the numbers in terms of colleges, courses, students, and there is now a need to focus on quality of education,” said Mahesh Phatak, secretary for higher and technical education.

The government resolution dated August 23 that announced the formation of the panel states that the Joint Board of Vice Chancellors has reiterated the need to increase the opportunities for higher education in the state. The Board has complained that state universities do not get enough time to spend on innovations in curriculum and research and are lagging way behind their global counterparts.

The GR states the result is that colleges in the state are often not accredited, there is deficit of qualified teachers, and a lack of good infrastructure in institutes.

“Given the Centre’s go-ahead to foreign universities to set campuses in the country, there is a need for state-run Universities to brush up their act,” said a senior bureaucrat.

The three panels are expected to bring about major changes to the functioning of state varsities by amending outdated laws, changing the administration by bifurcation of existing varsities and introducing fresh content in state institutes.