JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today approved a Rs 1039 crore education plan, under which new universities and colleges will be set up in the state while the existing higher education system will be upgraded.
The State Higher Education Plan (SHEP) was approved by the Chief Minister at the first meeting of the State Higher Education Council, a spokesman said.
The proposal will now be sent to the Union government for assistance under the newly launched Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a centrally-sponsored scheme of the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
The Higher Education Department is projecting the plan for 2014-15 to 2016-17 to the MHRD, the spokesman said.
Of the Rs 1039 crore, the Centre’s share will be Rs 935.10 crore and the state’s share will be Rs 103.90 crore, the spokesman said.
The current year’s plan for RUSA envisages an amount of Rs 296.46 crore, of which the Centre’s share will be Rs 266.81 crore.
During the meeting, the Commissioner Secretary (Higher Education Department) Mushtaq Ahmad gave an overview of the draft proposal prepared by the department.
He said two cluster universities at Jammu and Srinagar are proposed to be set up under the State Higher Education Plan.
The plan proposes a grant of Rs 80 crore to the universities of Kashmir, Jammu and IUST and BGSBU universities at Rs 20 crore each to be utilised for infrastructural needs, including upgradation of libraries, laboratories, equipment, hostels and sanitation facilities.
Ahmad said establishment of model degree colleges in educationally backward districts in the state had also been envisaged under the plan.
He said 17 such colleges would be established.
Eleven model colleges have already been sanctioned and six more are being approved under RUSA, he said, adding that RUSA also provided for establishment of three colleges of engineering and technology and introduction of job-oriented courses. (AGENCIES)
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