Especially, the education sector was expecting a huge boost in terms of increase in education budget from 4% to 6% of the GDP.

An outlay of Rs 85,010 crore was made by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the education sector for the next fiscal year. While Rs 35,010 crore have been allocated for higher education, an amount of Rs 50,000 crore has been earmarked for school education. This has increased from Rs 79,685.95 crore in 2017.

The government has proposed a research fellowship scheme under which 1,000 best B.Tech students would be identified and given “a handsome fellowship” and facilities to do PhD in IITs and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in the hope that they would voluntarily commit a few hours every week to teach in higher educational institutions. This initiative would probably attract top ranked students from the premier central government institutions for pursuing PhD and eventually become faculty in Indian higher education. It’s a welcome step towards strengthening Indian Higher Education teaching & research. If implemented well, this may help India in improving its performance in global university rankings.

The decision has been welcomed by the academic community overall, as such an initiative could help in fostering a culture of research and innovation in the field of technology. For decades India’s academic orientation has been skewed towards theory, with very little impetus on research and testing.The move comes in a time when India produces only 12,000 PhDs in engineering annually, unlike China, Britain and the US..

The government has also proposed setting up of two new full-fledged schools of planning and architecture and about 18 schools of planning and architecture to be set up under the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs) as autonomous schools. Looking at the rapid automation taking place in infrastructure and construction sector, this announcement looks untimely. However, this step could be aimed to cope with the demand for architectects and urban planning professionals for upcoming smart cities.

To bridge the gap between doctor-patient ratio in the country, the finance minister proposed setting up of 24 new government medical colleges by upgrading existing district hospitals in the country. “The government aims to set up at least one medical college for three Parliamentary constituencies. Looking at the governance issues in the medical council of India and deteriorating conditions of government medical colleges and hospitals, government would be required to pay serious attention while setting up new medical colleges.

In a major reform move for the higher education sector, the government has also announced a new model for funding infrastructure in the centrally-funded higher educational institutions, calling on IITs, NITs and IIMs to pitch in with 25% of total funds needed.

The budget 2018 has declared that there will be no further grant-in-aid for new infrastructure across Centrally Funded Technical Institutes including the IITs, NITs and IIMs. It is estimated that Rs 1 lakh crore will be needed across institutes until 2021-22 for creation of new infrastructure.

The move could be made to bring in greater accountability and responsibility in government funded educational institutes, to shift funding mechanism to a project based one rather than a dole out mechanism. The government also believes that besides pushing institutes to mobilise their own resources, the move will also allow institutes to seek more funds and money than they currently get allocated, provided their project proposal is credible enough.

Under the new funding regime introduced today, each institute will now have to seek funds on the basis of projects proposals and seek loans from the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) to fund the same.

This change in funding mechanism may increase competitive environment among premier institutions however, for a country like India, the government funding in Higher Education Institutions should be based on more egalitarian view and mediocre institutions should not suffer due to most of the government fund allocation to top institutions.

In case of Central Universities which have constraints in raising student fee, they will have to only pay 10% of the principal amount.

Stopping short of fully deregulating fee in these institutes, keeping student interest in mind, the Modi government will allow educational institutes considerable freedom to mobilise resources on their own.

While these initiatives are spearheaded towards creating an infrastructure to encourage skill development and ensure that our youth has relevant expertise in their area of specialization. Broadly, education sector had the following expectations from this budget.

1. Increasing education sector budgetary allocation from 4% to 6% of GDP
2. Removal / reduction in GST for Higher Education
3. Special package to revive engineering education / closing institutes
4. Announcement of National Employment Policy (NEP) – a comprehensive road map for creation of quality jobs and employment
5. Revision on monetary limit for income tax exemption under children education

While this year’s union budget almost managed to pacify all strata’s, but the people were still left wanting for more. For example even after much debate and discussion, topics like GST in Higher education or tax exemption under children education were not touched..

Therefore even with a slew of such initiatives, one could only come to a conclusion basis what gets translated into ground reality and in what amount of stipulated time.

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Overview of strategic planning in higher education

Institutions requiring strategic planning and assessment develops some strategy  in sync with some other forms of planning i.e. information technology plan, academic master plan, or facilities master plan.

Components of a strategic plan

There are various steps to strategic planning and each step serves a specific purpose. These steps to institutional strategic planning comprises of multiple components.

Foundation to strategic planning for Institutions:

The first step for strategic planning is deciding institution’s mission statement. Mission statement tells us why the institution has been started and what its intended operations are to achieve. Whether educational body is governed by state or privately, mission statement give reason to the existence of the institution.

Mission statement of an educational institution in short is a basic statement of purpose. At times institutions also provide separate set of institutional goals, these can be appended to or displayed in conjunction with the mission statement. Precisely, mission statement is “This is what we are here to do”.

Values

Values explain what educational institution stand for and ways in which it intends to conduct its activities. Many a time, values are so important for institutions that they have programs and assessment measures to support and sustain them. To sum up values are “These are the characteristics we believe are important in how we do our work”.

The Institutional Vision Statement

The second step for strategic planning is the institution’s vision statement. The vision statement is the institution’s destination for the length of the strategic plan. Vision statements contain the specific characteristics or features that will define the institution in its future. The Vision Statement is used to motivate and inspire. The vision statement of an institution is “what it intends to become within a certain timeframe”.

The strategic goals and objectives

Defining goals and objectives will be third step of strategic planning. Interchangeably used words ‘goal’ and ‘objective’ have a very subtle difference in its meaning.

The word ‘Goal’ connotes specific achievement; a target reached and ‘checked off’. The word objective is slightly more general in connotation. An objective helps set a course by giving a general direction, but an objective doesn’t usually contains specifics of its own completion. Goals and objective are always time-driven in any educational institution.

The implementation plan

Fourth and critical step to strategic planning is implementation plan. Its function includes converting goals and objectives into working plan. This is not shared with public and most of the times with the governing board as well. Primarily, it is improved and altered as and when situations and environment changes. Implementation Plan identifies the resources each objective, goal and budget requires; it includes people, time, space, technology, and funding. It has to be directive, clear and documented.

Coordinating the planning process

For planning process to be successful there are a few things necessary like, the planning committee.

The planning committee

The next step is to have planning committee to coordinate the planning process. It is important to have planning committee for three reasons:

1. The work of strategic committee must be known by its members. As strategic planning committee is not formed only for making plans; it has to participate in its implementation and assessment to make its plan work effectively.
2. To ensure that plan is being implemented effectively, to keep the plan interactive and on track, monitoring is prerequisite. Working of higher educational institutions is complex, and committee members are generally from varied field and expert in their own areas, so they can check its progress well.
3. It is important to know how the planning process works for as many stakeholders as possible. Non-permanent members like, faculty and students should be rotated from time to time. This rotation will enhance knowledge of all stakeholders, that can be applied their respective departments of the educational institution and it give students insight into the strategic planning process and its actual implementation. As entire institution is involved in planning process so implementation is also more effective and it boost strategic thinking across the institution.

The charge to the committee

The duties of the planning committee should be well documented. It should have:

• The size and composition of the planning committee
• The length of term of non-permanent members
• The scope of responsibility and authority of the committee
• The expectation for the participation for each member permanent or non-permanent.

Deciding the planning year

It is important to align budget cycle and planning cycle in the institution’s planning process. It requires careful analysis of the various steps in the annual budget cycle to determine when annual planning goals need to be confirmed to support the decision-making in the budget.

There is a HR calendar as well. If HR calendar is in sync with strategic plan of the institution, it helps in professional development plans which have attendant training cost; and, annual payroll data, which usually reflect the largest non-capital institutional expenditure.

Using a planning consultant

Hiring a planning consultant before start of educational institution is beneficial in many ways; primarily, they are planning strategically to start the institution and they will be required to demonstrate institutional planning to various stakeholders at various occasions. Planning consultant helps the institution implement the plan they have decided to work upon, for consultants have prior knowledge of how to implement a strategic plan in a higher educational institution. A planning consultant supports them where there is any shortfalls and complex/problem areas of their plan.

Assessments and metrics

Fifth step in institutional strategic planning is institutional assessment.

Institutional assessment

Planning-related assessment in institutions takes place in two ways: institutional effectiveness and learning outcomes. These are basics of planning process, as they show the accountability and improvement in the procedure implemented. Along with institutional effectiveness and learning outcome, administrative assessment is also inseparable segment of institutional assessment.

Institutional effectiveness

Institutional effectiveness is checked against the ‘institutional goals’ set as part of its mission statement. The institutional goals act as the base for their assessment methods. For this, planning committee also frames questions to assess the progress of strategic plan for institution.

Learning outcome

The assessment here discussed is for the process of implementation of strategic plan, not of the persons/stakeholders involved in planning or implementation. Learning outcome is a constituent of institutional planning process that must be guided and integrated into the strategic plan. It also gives the procedural improvement data to inform the planning process.

Administrative assessment

Administrative staff is one of the important part of the institutions, though often ignored while assessing the institution. It helps identify and improve supervision, management, and the work environment.

The self-sustaining planning process

Sixth step: Assessment and revision of strategic plan from time to time is significant to keep plan flexible and updated. There are 4 timeframe for assessment: first two are annual and rest two are multi-year assessments/at the end of full planning cycle.

Annual cycle assessment

This can be represented in following figure:

Annual Cycle Assessment

In figure above, it is shown that first assessment takes place at the beginning of the year when planning committee reviews the achievements of previous year’s plan and accordingly sets the goals and steps for coming year. Secondly it shows mid-year review which helps institution understand that if any changes are needed to ensure goal completion.

Full cycle review

Report on achievement of the strategic plan

The annual assessment process will make year on year basis document of achievement. At the same time, institution should also make document of other accomplishments apart from planned ones, as it shows institutions ability to adapt to unexpected situations and taking advantage out of those challenges, while keeping an eye on goals.

Review of the effectiveness of the planning process

The final assessment of an institution’s strategic plan comes as the previous plan is coming to an end and a new plan is developed to be implemented. At this point, focus is on how to make next plan more effective. Figure below shows the cyclic process.

Process to Develop, Implement, and Review a Planning Process

The “Face” of Planning on Campus

The continuous evaluation of planning process is one part of self-sustaining strategic plan; at the same time, a single person should be there to coordinate planning on campus of the institution. Though all involved in planning and implementation have to work in coordination, but, one should be repository of all information, so that in case of any doubt, no further chaos is created by multiplicity of “faces” of planning.

The critical impact of institutional culture

Seventh step: The implementation of strategic plan in any institution depends on three crucial factors: the institution’s unique environment; the structure and competence of the administrative staff of the institution; and the development of staff commitment.

The environment

The environment for any higher education institution is sum-total of external environment of competitors and economic conditions; and internal environment (institution’s mission statement and its historical development).

Administrative structure and staff competence

Administrative situation in an institution affects the institution’s culture by personalities, experiences and competence in big way.

Developing staff commitment to strategic planning

Once mission and goals are defined, the need for collective commitment drives effective planning. To ensure collective commitment, a college/ university planner must be able to understand and work within the campus culture.

The various components of campus culture

There is a huge difference in corporate culture and academic culture as working of faculty is very different from corporate. This cultural difference increased by the evolution of staff as professional administrators. Along with these, there are other stakeholders in college/university are students, campus safety, etc.

Defining issues in cultural terms

Planning groups are involved in activities that require commitment; and to nurture that they need three elements: social process, leadership and structural design. First, Social processes also known as “enculturation” is a process in which people are absorbed in organizational culture. Second, The leader ensures that social processes are implemented effectively and on regularly, with focus on institution’s vision. Third, structural design facilitates leaders an environment to enforce the vision that binds the goal together.

Developing a culture of planning and strategic thinking

There are various ways to make sure that all stakeholders are part of planning process in an institution. This can be achieved by discussing different steps with them and accepting their good suggestions. Inform stakeholders about the strategic planning process and its implementation. Acknowledge participation of the stakeholders in the planning process.

Word can be spread about various stages of planning process and its implementation through various media.

From strategic to operational

Eighth step is to take planning from strategic to operational. A strategic plan for any institution for any time duration should be focused to make institution reach its vision. Vision is said to be driver of the plan if it is led by changes and improvement in academic activities. If due to any specific critical situation educational institution has to shift its focus from academic plan to that need; institution must do that, and it should also reflect in strategic plan related to that critical situation.

In institutions there are various departments and divisions makes implementation of a strategic plan complex process. Operational and tactical planning provides the institution with the tools and insight to implement the plan. Operational planning is planning at the departmental level of a higher education institution. In this all departments and divisions decides about their own visions and the critical resources required. Tactical planning involves the policies and procedures necessary for effective management, planning, budgeting, and assessing.

The relationship of other types of institutional plans to the strategic plan

Ninth step to strategic planning is to associate other institutional plans with strategic planning. There are various departments and divisions in higher educational institutions, each of these create their own plan e.g. academic plans, facilities and master plans, IT plans, and advancement plans. Strategic planning process integrates all these different plans into one single plan; it results in two benefits i.e. to anticipate and prioritize budget demands; and identifying complementary, competing and contradictory goals.

Summary of thoughts

Lastly tenth step, Critics emphasise that strategic planning can be applied by team leadership and specialist thinking; and is too linear to lead transformative process. It is difficult to think strategically and from higher educational institution’s perspective at the same time, so thinking for institutional strategic planning process is more of integrative and conceptual thinking rather than specialist thinking.

If college/university’s strategic plan is implemented, executed and work effectively; it indicates that all departments and divisions are able to work out their plans effectively.

Mostly higher education institutions either do not use strategic planning or do not use it properly. This leads to cropping up of problems at different departments/divisions from time to time.

Dedicated planners, internal or external, can bring experience, intuition, and creativity to a critical and crucial process.

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While many of these changes have been positive, these changes are often not easy for many institutions as far as enrollment and admission dynamics are concerned. For all the ways in which higher education has propelled us forward, we sometimes resist and even fear the changes brought on by ensuing generations of college students.

However, if there is a lesson I have learned from my own campus experiences as well as consulting with higher education, it is that adaptation is not an option in enrollment management. Change and succeed, or resist and perish.

While every institution is different, the following 9 strategies have helped many campuses not just to stay ahead of these changes, but use these changes for their advantage in improving student enrollment and admissions.

1. Set realistic admission goals and not just projections:

Think about the enrollment goals at your own institution. Do you know what they are? Do other key stakeholders at your institution know them? Does everyone support them? and most importantly Are You Certain? Every admission manager should answer yes to those these three questions, yet many cannot.

Why? Because goal-setting is often an abstract exercise free from relevant data inputs and market analysis. It is crucial to look at how you have been enrolling and how your competition enrolls before you set future goals. What is your balance between quality and quantity of student enrollments?

Enrollment goals should be strategically planned and assessed. they need to be sub-divided into subpopulations — courses, geography, application channels, and so on.

2. Identify and secure sufficient resources to achieve admission goals:

As part of a realistic goal-setting exercise, you have to know what resources you will require to achieve your goals. Much like asking what your goals are, do you know what is in your annual enrollment plan? Is it visible from your desk, or tucked away like a library book? Successful enrollment plans are living enrollment plans. They are working action documents that should be referred to regularly, and routinely modified. They should also include daily tasks, monthly objectives, and last 90-day action plans.

In addition, it’s important to have a working, realistic enrollment plan that looks three to five years ahead. That plan should chart a course for your campus from what it is now to what it will become.

3. Build your database and inquiry pool by design, not by chance:

To achieve admission goals you have to begin with a plan to build and manage a database not, including an inquiry pool of the right size and shape. You also need to set specific conversion ratios and goals so that you can manage your inquiry pool more strategically. It shouldn’t be a rule of thumb.

Note, that different types of applications will convert at different yield rates. Either Online, or the on Paper applications should be track differently — be sure to monitor these rates and plan accordingly.

4. Implement a strategic communication flow:

With the seemingly chaotic mix of prints, mails, and social media, there may not seem to be a “flow” with admission inquiry. As with prospective student identification, though, building a communications flow remains a bountiful enrollment strategy if it is handled strategically.

First, you ought to think about the communications at various enrollment stages — inquiries, applications, admission acceptances, fees deposits. Progressing them to the next enrollment stage remains the goal.

Second, focus your electronic communications wisely. Having a website that engages students is paramount. You want to invite communication in addition to delivering information. Give students opportunities to provide their email addresses or contact information. Do the same with social media, but be careful not to go overboard. You are better covering fewer social media outlets well rather than spreading yourself too thin.

5. Track your marketing and it’s impact on inquiry generation to final admission:

Michael Porter famously said, “What gets measured gets done”. In an era of abundant resources for an institution’s marketing, you cannot afford to put time and money into activities with no measurable return on investment.

This process can be boiled into four main components:
i).   Identify which metrics to track.
ii).   Know how to track the metrics you identified.
iii). Guide your decisions with the data you collect.
iv). Monitor the effect of your efforts and adjusting accordingly.

Having a solid set of marketing and enrollment conversion metrics you can track your efforts from year to year and make crucial decisions on allocating resources and find opportunities in the education sector.

6. Identify admission channels and its performance measurement mechanism:

As institutions choose to utilise multiple admission channels, from newspaper ads to admission consultants and online marketing to admission fairs, it is important for the institution to identify suitable admission channels. Track admission conversion ratio for each channel and evaluate return on investment of resources for each of the channels. Based on these inputs, the institution can establish a performance measurement mechanism for every channel.

It is important to evaluate performance of your admission channels and set a separate target for each channel.

7. Devote as much attention to student retention as to enrollment:

Post enrollment dropout ratio is on the rise. Let’s say you want to increase your enrollment by 5 per cent. To achieve it, you could increase applications by 5 per cent. Or you could increase new students by 2 per cent while focusing on retention and reduce student retention by 3 per cent. The latter approach tends to be much more cost effective.

However, retention requires attention to detail. Your institution has to be committed to providing all possible admission assistance, and must develop a system for identifying which students need and want assistance, so you can focus on better engagement with those students.

8. Mention fee details clearly and Award scholarships:

The increasing cost of higher education has emerged as the biggest roadblock to attracting bright students. Perhaps nothing will turn away a prospective student faster than a feeling that they cannot afford your institution. You have to address this concern immediately and accurately.

Mentioning fee details clearly on your website is a great first step to address the affordability of education by for prospective students and their families. Further, it is important to mention about all the available scholarships, student bank loans and other financials aids aid available to for your prospective students.

In addition, you have to identify scholarship awarding strategies that address need, and willingness to pay. Doing this successfully means that you have understood the price sensitivity of the various student populations you hope to attract. Awarding scholarship just for the initial phase of the study could put students at risk of dropping out, which hurts both the student and your institution. It’s advisable to spread the scholarship throughout the enrolled years.

Education is a business of brands, so avoid overdoing in awarding scholarships it to make sure prospective students don’t get confused between scholarship and discount.

9. Make the best use of technology for achieving enrollment goals:

Technology has transformed education as a whole and enrollment is not an exception. Most of the institutions limit the use of technology in enrollment management using social media marketing and search engine optimization only. However, integration of technology solutions in admission process can help your institution in identifying and targeting the right set of student applicant pool, providing them personalised assistance, tracking of student applications and application funnel management. In the era of technology, right use of technology can give your institution a distinctive advantage for building an Education ERP.

I hope you find these strategies prolific. It is important to adopt a systematic, forward-thinking way to approach enrollment management. With so many changes in the Indian higher education and economy, you must take a data-informed approach to every aspect of student admissions, so that you focus on the types of students you want to admit and don’t waste your limited resources on an irrelevant student pool. Explore every avenue and then chose the right management strategy for a successful new session.

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With the growing aspiration of Indian premier institutions to compete on the global stage and basic demand for creating access to higher education for all, the sector was expecting transformational reforms. However as far as meeting education sector’s expectations is concerned, the budget is miles away from being considered as #SuperBudget. Rather, it seems, focus on education is missing in this budget.

To tackle mammoth challenges Indian education is facing, strategic long-term approach to rejuvenate the sector was expected by most of the academic leaders. As far as education sector announcements are concerned, the budget doesn’t look anyway different from earlier government budgets. It remains populist with symbolic announcements of new premier institutions to please a specific section of society and many promises for the larger population.

Being the first full budget of the government with the absolute majority, this budget would have provided at least the direction for some of the eagerly awaited education sector related bills.

Looking at the pressing need of improving research and innovation output of the country, announcement on countrywide special program for motivating academic research would have been considered timely. Such announcement would have been face saver against the humiliation government is facing on the issue of delay in research fellowship arrear payment and nationwide agitation by Ph.D. research scholars.

Here, I am presenting the detailed analysis on each point of the Hon’ble Minister’s budgetary speech.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

I have allocated ` 68,968 crore to the Education sector including mid-day meals

Analysis:

This announcement is the most significant as budgetary allocation indicates government’s focus on education viz a viz other sectors.

In this budget, Rs 68,968 crore is allocated for the education sector from total outlay of Rs 17,77,477 crore, which is nearly 3.8 percent.

While the school education sector has got an outlay of Rs 42,219.50 crores for 2015-16, the higher education sector has got Rs 26,855 crore. In all, school education and higher education sectors have got Rs 68,968 crore. The revised estimate for 2014-15 was Rs 70,505 crore. This means the government announced 2% cut in the outlay for the education sector in this Union Budget. The cut is, however, about 16.54 percent if compared with the actual outlay the 2014-15 fiscal.

“India is one of the youngest nations in the world with more than 54% of the total population below 25 years of age.” The line quoted by Honorable Finance Minister during this budgetary speech gives perspective to 3.8% budgetary allocation to the education sector. Looking at this statistics if we really want to ripe benefits of the demographic divide, the government would have announced significant hike in education spending. Government’s decision of budget cut in education is against common sense.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

Educating and skilling our youth to enable them to get Employment is the altar before which we must all bow. To ensure that there is a senior secondary School within 5 km reach of each child, we need to upgrade over 80,000 secondary Schools and add or upgrade 75,000 junior/middle, to the senior secondary level. We also have to ensure that Education improves in terms of quality and learning outcomes.

Analysis:

The intention of the Finance Minister to improve the quality of primary and secondary education is definitely a beacon of hope. However, due to the absence of a working blueprint to achieve these results, the words seem to be hollow and a little unrealistic, considering the large number of schools being impacted (80000 secondary and 75000 junior/middle-level schools).

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

An integrated Education and livelihood scheme called ‘Nai Manzil’ will be launched this year to enable Minority Youth who do not have a formal School-leaving certificate to obtain one and find better Employment. Further, to showcase civilization and culture of the Parsis, the Government will support, in 2015-16, an exhibition, ‘The Everlasting Flame’. The allocation for the Ministry of Minority Affairs is being protected. The BE for the year 2015-16 is Rs 3,738 crore.

Analysis:

With the integration of the Education, Skills development and Livelihood schemes, the Government definitely seems to be sensitive about improving the condition of the uneducated, unemployed population. The Government’s step towards integrating educational services of religious institutes and other academic bodies is a good move.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

I also intend to establish, in NITI, the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM). AIM will be an Innovation Promotion Platform involving academics, entrepreneurs, and Researchers and draw upon national and international experiences to foster a culture of innovation, R&D and scientific Research in India. The platform will also promote a network of world-class innovation hubs and Grand Challenges for India. Initially, a sum of ` 150 crore will be earmarked for this purpose.

Analysis:

As mentioned in the beginning, the announcement of a large-scale program for the promotion of Research and Innovation culture among academic institutions remains long awaited. This new fund allocation can be looked at as a first step towards larger program. However, looking at the kind of boost India needs in this area, 150 crore allocation is meager.

The UAE government recently declared 2015 as the “Year of Innovation” and announced a new National Innovation Strategy with the aim of becoming one among the most innovative nations in the world within a 7-year period. Our country is still in the optimistic state and I feel, this was the right time for our government to announce bold vision about our vision and support it with long-term budgetary allocation.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

India is one of the youngest nations in the world with more than 54% of the total population below 25 years of age. Our young people have to be both educated and employable for the Jobs of the 21st Century. The Prime Minister has explained how Skill India needs to be closely coordinated with Make in India. Yet today less than 5% of our potential workforce gets formal skill training to be employable and stay employable.

We will soon be launching a National Skills Mission through the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Ministry. The Mission will consolidate skill initiatives spread across several Ministries and allow us to standardize procedures and outcomes across our 31 Sector Skill Councils.

With rural population still forming close to 70% of India’s population, enhancing the employability of rural youth is the key to unlocking India’s demographic dividend. With this in mind, we had launched the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gramin Kaushal Yojana. ` 1,500 crore has been set apart for this scheme. Disbursement will be through a digital voucher directly into qualified student’s bank account.

Analysis:

Here I have clubbed 3 skill development related sections of the speech.

Broadly it gives an impression of government’s increasing inclination towards skills development than formal education. If India aspires to be exporter of skilled workforce to the whole world, focus on skill development is inevitable, however it is also important to remember that both should remain supplementary to each other and vocational training can not be looked at as an alternative to formal education.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

With a view to enable all poor and middle class students to pursue Higher Education of their choice without any constraint of funds, I propose to set up a fully IT based Student Financial Aid Authority to administer and monitor Scholarship as well Educational Loan Schemes, through the Pradhan Mantri Vidya Lakshmi Karyakram. We will ensure that no student misses out on Higher Education for lack of funds.

Analysis:

If you would like to evaluate this budget with respect to the government’s execution capability this section is the best example. This announcement should be looked at in the context of last budgetary announcement of “Government also proposes to ease and simplify norms to facilitate education loans for higher studies”. When we put both the in sequence, it gives confidence that government has a well-defined plan in this area.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

Hon’ble Members will remember that in the Budget Speech of July, I had indicated my intention to provide one major Central Institute in each State. In the fiscal year 2015-16, I propose to set up All India Institutes of Medical Sciences in J&K, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Assam. Keeping in view the need to augment Medical Sciences in Bihar, I propose to set up another AIIMS like institution in these States. I propose to set up an IIT in Karnataka, and upgrade Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad into a full-fledged IIT. I also propose to set up a Post Graduate Institute of Horticulture Research and Education in Amritsar. IIMs will be setup in J&K and Andhra Pradesh. In Kerala, I propose to upgrade the existing National Institute of Speech and Hearing to a University of Disability Studies and Rehabilitation. I also propose three new National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research: in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Chattisgarh; and an Institutes of Science and Education Research in Nagaland and Odisha. I also propose to set up a Centre for Film Production, Animation and Gaming in Arunachal Pradesh, for the North-Eastern States; and Apprenticeship Training Institute for Women in Haryana and Uttrakhand.

Analysis:

To me, this is the most disappointing announcement of this budget. There is no doubt that we will have to build additional capacity to achieve 30% Higher Education GER target, however, it is important to evaluate financial viability of announcing new institutions.

The eight IITs, announced during 2008-12, are operating out of temporary campuses. Out of these 8, 6 deferred their plan to move to new campus due to cut in budget allocation. Government announced 5 new IITs during last budget however; it seems difficult for them to start from coming academic session. It is difficult to understand how government will practically starts one more IIT and what purpose will the name change of ISM, Dhanbad to IIT, Dhanbad serve. Situation of new IIMs is no better than IITs. They are struggling without physical and intellectual resources required for premier institution.

Announcement of independent university for disability studies, film production Centre, and apprentice training Centre for female are welcome moves.

Conclusion:

To me, the Union Budget does not seem too promising for education sector. But with the country still being in an optimistic state, hope and success riding high on this year’s budget, here’s to see how much of the reforms are carried out over the trending of the year.

The post Union Budget ’15: Takeaway for Education Sector appeared first on EduShine.

As the Indian higher education is at a critical stage with tremendous pressure on increasing GER and quality enhancement of Institutions, the sector was expecting structural reforms. However unfortunately; the budget fell short on those expectations as the new government also continued focusing on infrastructure creation than structural reforms.

Looking at the challenges Indian higher education is facing, a new strategic approach needs to be taken to overhaul the sector. The budget only talked about doing more of the same that the last government was doing. It also has been populist in nature as it attempts to please a few sections of society, specifically based on geography.

Provided with the huge mandate to this government, this budget would have clarified government’s stand on FDI in Higher Education (Foreign Education Providers’ Bill), which is eagerly awaited by, not just, the promoters of private education institutions but also by some leading foreign institutions as well.

Looking at the increasing importance and urgency for preparing Indian institutions to compete on global rankings, this would have been the most appropriate time for the government to announce an initiative on the lines of Chinese 985 (or Korean Brain 21) programs. Such initiative would have been able to rejuvenate Indian higher education system.

Here, I have presented detailed analysis on each points of the Hon’ble Minister’s budgetary speech.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

“The country needs a large number of Centers of higher learning which are world class. I propose to set up Jai Prakash Narayan National Centre for Excellence in Humanities in Madhya Pradesh. I also intend to setup five more IITs in the Jammu, Chattisgarh, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Five IIMs would be setup in the States of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Odisha and Maharashtra. I propose to set aside a sum of Rs 500 crore for this.”

Analysis:

This announcement is the most significant as it clarifies the government’s approach towards higher education. I feel, the government has gone completely wrong. To improve the GER the country certainly needs additional capacity but it is more important to better quality of existing education institution, urgently. When most of the newly formed IITs and IIMs are still operating from borrowed campuses and are struggling from lack of quality faculties, this budget should have focused on strengthening them rather than starting new institutions.

If the government felt the need to increase some capacity, a better initiative should have been to create a new brand in Higher Education rather than trying to leverage existing brands like IITs and IIMs.

In today’s context establishing even a single world class institution requires an investment of Rs 500 crore and it doesn’t make any sense to allocate similar budget to start 10 new institutions. The better option would have been to allocate funds, to the best management / engineering institution in these states, with the specific objective of putting them on the road map to become IITs and IIMs. Opening 5 new IIMs and IITs each in the states where it is not present currently, is certainly politically motivated and has no merit from educational stand-point.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

“Government also proposes to ease and simplify norms to facilitate education loans for higher studies. “

Analysis:

This is right step in the right direction to improve GER. Looking at the budgetary deficits and increased capacity in the private institutions, it was almost impossible for the hon’ble minister to subsidize or control fees and push for GER increase.

However, the government must not consider such simplification at the cost of increase in NPAs. It needs to be monitored carefully as NPAs in education loans are already hovering at more than 5%.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

“Rs 2,200 crores for Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan.”

Analysis:

It is in the continuation of existing centrally sponsored scheme. With larger allocation, it is more important to increase effectiveness and relentless focus on quality, equity and access.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

“Film & Television Institute, Pune and Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, Kolkata are proposed to be accorded status of Institutes of national importance and a “National Centre for Excellence in Animation, Gaming and Special Effects will be set up.”

Analysis:

This is a real area of new initiatives in this budget. It is encouraging for the private institutions to know that government has acknowledged the importance of higher education institutions in specialized and emerging disciplines.

Hon’ble Minister’s Budget speech:

“Rs 200 crore provided to open Agriculture Universities in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan & Horticulture Universities in Telangana & Haryana. “

Analysis:

Ii is difficult to understand that with more than 50 existing agricultural and horticulture universities, most of them operating at lower than expected capacity utilization, the government has decided to establish 4 more such universities. As most of these universities are operating under tight budgetary constraints and produce lower quality research, this money should have been better utilized in upgrading the quality of education and research in the existing agricultural and horticultural universities. Agriculture & horticulture universities require large land bank and unfortunately, most of the budgetary allocation will go in land and basic infrastructure.

To conclude, it is important for the government and specifically, ministry of HRD to make a fine balance between new capacity generation and building globally ranked institutions. This budget creates an impression of leaning towards capacity building.

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