Draft report of

Chapter – 6

Status of Higher Education Institutional Capacity

6.1 Progress of Higher Education Institutional Capacity

The institutional capacity is assessed in terms of number of universities and colleges, teachers and number of students.

In 1947 there were only 20 Universities in the country and this increased to 357 in 2006 denoting a 18-fold increase. During the 10th plan period, 2 central universities, 39 state universities, 50 deemed universities and 10 private universities have been added (Table 2.1). Number of State universities have grown at the rate of 22% and the deemed universities at the rate of 100%. The expansion of deemed and private universities is an important feature of the 10th plan.

Table 10

Growth of Universities in 10^th Plan (4 years only)

S. No.	Category	As on 31.3. 2002	As on 31.3. 2006	Universities funded by UGC	Directly by Central Govt.
1	Central	18	20	18	2
2	State	178	217	158	-
3	Deemed	52	104	25	-
4.	Institutions (Est. by State Legislative Act)	05	05	03	-
5	Institutions of National Importance (Est. by Central Legislation	12	13	-	13
6	Private University	-	8	1
7	Total	265	367	205	15

Source: UGC
6.2 Universities by Types of Disciplines
Distribution of central and state universities into major disciplines show that out of 237 universities, 123 universities are in general disciplines, although some of them may have affiliating technical and professional colleges as well. There are 35 agricultural universities followed by 14 technological, 11 language, 11 open, 9 medical, 6 law, 3 women, 4 animal & fishery universities. It shows the university system has diversified into many disciplines – a trend that needs to be encouraged (table 2).

Table 11

Distribution of Central and State Universities into types of Discipline

Type	Number	%
General	126	54
Agricultural	35	15
Technological	14	6
Language	11	5
Medical	9	4
Law	6	2.6
Woman	5	1
Animal & Fishery	4	1.7
Open	11	5
Others	16	5.7
Total	237	100

Source: UGC Annual Report, 2004-05
Among the deemed universities, there is greater diversification. Apart from majority being in technological discipline, there are universities in specific research areas such as English and foreign language, yoga, brain research, dairy research, mines, basic science, neuro science, physical education, fisheries, economics and politics, development research, armament technology, population science, social science, IT, management, education, home sciences, rural studies, music, veterinary research, forest research, drama, planning and architecture, foreign trade, educational planning and administration.
6.3 State Wise Distribution of Central and State Universities
Among the major states Uttar Pradesh (24) has highest number of universities, followed by Maharashtra (20), Tamilnadu (17), Andhra Pradesh (16), West Bengal (16), , Karnataka (15), Madhya Pradesh (14), Gujarat (13), Bihar (12) and Rajasthan (12), Orissa (9), Punjab, Uttaranchal, Assam, Delhi and Chhattisgarh (5 each) and Jharkhand and Himanchal ( 4 each). The central universities are concentrated in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, UP, Delhi and North eastern states.
6.4 Number and Distribution of Colleges
Table 3 shows the growth of colleges during 10^th plan. There were 15,437 colleges in 2002 and this increased to 17,625 in 2005 and 18064 in March 2006. Of these, about 14000 colleges (79 %) mostly in Arts, Science and Commerce streams are under the purview of the UGC. However, only 40 % of these colleges which came under the purview of UGC are included under Section 2(f) and 12B of the UGC Act and are entitled for grant. 92 % of the colleges included under Section 12 B of the UGC Act received grant support under X plan. It is also important to note that only 2,879 colleges have so far been accredited by NAAC. Of these, 647 are Government, 2051 government aided and 181 private colleges.