Good governance and higher education reforms are top priority of the Government. This was told by Higher and Technical Education Minister Umashankar Gupta to a team of World Bank here on Monday.
The team is in Bhopal to discuss a joint project chalked out for higher education's reforms and development in Madhya Pradesh. Gupta said that undergoing refresher course every two years will be made compulsory for professors. The project has provisioned Rs 3,603 crore for development of higher education infrastructure and other works.
The provisions include Rs 400 crore each for Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hindi Vishwavidyalaya and Chhatarpur University among others. Infrastructure works like construction of university building, hostel, library, lab etc will be done using these funds.
The Higher Education Minister said that admission of all SC and ST students passing class XII exams will be ensured in colleges. Students taking admission in Government colleges from next academic session will be given smart phones.
Gupta said that training should also be imparted to private college professors. Principal Secretary Higher Education JN Kansotiya informed that GER in the State has gone up to 19.07 per cent in year 2013-14, which is higher than national average. He said that now new professors will be posted in colleges only after going through foundation course.
World Bank team leader Tony lynden said that Higher Education Department's vision document is progressive. He also praised officers' cooperation in the project work. lynden informed that departmental officers will be imparted training also in Pennsylvania University.
The World Bank team also held discussions with officers of Higher Education Directorate. The team will hold discussions with Director General of Academy of Administration on May 6. They will also hold discussions with principals and faculties of Barkatullah University, Government Sarojini Naidu Girls College and Bhopal School of Social Sciences.
Commissioner Higher Education VS Niranjan, World Bank team members Sangeeta Goyal, Tara Betiley, Kartika Nair, Papiya Bhattacharji, Satya Pandey and Rudraksh Mishra were present on the occasion.