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Government Of India Scheme Notes – On Ministry Of Human Resources Development – For W.B.C.S. Examination.
ভারত সরকার প্রকল্পের নোট – মানব সম্পদ বিকাশ মন্ত্রণালয় – WBCS পরীক্ষা।
1. Institutes of Eminence Scheme
• The University Grants Commission has deferred a decision on which institutions
should be granted the prestigious Institutes of Eminence tag as an expert
committee has recommended more names than the government scheme
allowed for.
• Background:
o The empowered expert committee headed by former Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami had initially recommended 11
institutions for the tag in July 2018. In December, the committee
recommended 19 more names, taking the total list to 30.
• Institutions of Eminence scheme:
o The institutes of eminence scheme under the Union human resource
development (HRD) ministry aims to project Indian institutes to global
recognition.
o The scheme was rolled out by University Grants Commission (UGC).
o It aimed to help 20 higher education (10 public and 10 private)
institutions from country break into top 500 in at least one
internationally reputed ranking framework in 10 years, and then
eventually break into top 100 over time.
o The selected institutes will enjoy complete academic and
administrative autonomy.
o They will be exempted from approvals of government or UGC for
academic collaborations with foreign institutions, except institutions in
MEA and MHA’s list of negative countries.
o They will be free to decide their fee for domestic and foreign students
and have flexible course duration and structure.
o They will have complete flexibility in fixing of curriculum and syllabus.
o Eligibility: Only higher education institutions currently placed in the top
500 of global rankings or top 50 of the National Institutional Ranking
Framework (NIRF) are eligible to apply for the eminence tag.
o The private Institutions of Eminence can also come up as greenfield
ventures provided the sponsoring organisation submits a convincing
perspective plan for 15 years.
2. Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)
• The Union Human Resources Development Ministry has signed an agreement with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for India’s Participation in Programme for International Student Assessment- PISA 2021.
• The students will be selected by PISA through random sampling. The schools
run by Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti
(NVS) and schools in the UT of Chandigarh would be participating.
• Significance:
India’s participation in PISA- 2021 would lead to recognition and
acceptability of Indian students and prepare them for the global
economy in the 21st century.
• Background:
o India had taken part in Programme for International Student
Assessment (PISA) in 2009 and bagged the 72nd rank among 74
participating countries. The then government had boycotted PISA,
blaming “out of context” questions for India’s dismal performance.
o Later, the HRD Ministry, revisited this decision in 2016 and the Kendriya
Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) had set up a committee to review the matter
and submitted its report in December 2016.
o The report recommended for participation in test in 2018. However,
India missed the application deadline for the 2018 cycle.
• About the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA):
o It is an international assessment that measures 15-year-old students’
reading, mathematics, and science literacy every three years.
o First conducted in 2000, the major domain of study rotates between
reading, mathematics, and science in each cycle. PISA also includes
measures of general or cross-curricular competencies, such as
collaborative problem solving.
o By design, PISA emphasizes functional skills that students have
acquired as they near the end of compulsory schooling.
o PISA is coordinated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization of
industrialized countries, and is conducted in the United States by NCES.
o In 2012 PISA test, schools of Shanghai in China topped reading,
mathematics and science test, followed closely by Singapore. In 2015,
Singapore, Japan and Estonia were ranked as top three countries, in
that order.
3. Impactful Policy Research in Social Sciences (IMPRESS)
• The Government has approved “Revitalizing Infrastructure and Systems in
Education by 2022”, accordingly the scope of institutions to be funded
through Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) has been enlarged to
encompass School Education and Medical Education institutions, apart from Higher Education.
• The Government of India, in August 2018, had sanctioned the
scheme “Impactful Policy Research in Social Sciences (IMPRESS)” at a total
cost of Rs. 414 Cr for implementation up to 31.03.2021.
• Highlights of the Scheme:
o 1500 research projects will be awarded for 2 years to support the social
science research in the higher educational and to enable research to
guide policy making.
• Implementing Agency:
o Indian Council of Social Science and Research (ICSSR)
• Objectives of the Scheme:
o To identify and fund research proposals in social sciences with
maximum impact on the governance and society.
To ensure selection of projects through a transparent, competitive
process on online mode.
o To provide opportunity for social science researchers in any institution
in the country, including all Universities (Centre and State), private
institutions with 12(B) status conferred by UGC.
o ICSSR funded/recognized research institutes will also be eligible to
submit research proposals on the given themes and sub-themes.
• About ICSSR –
o Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) was established in the
year of 1969 by the Government of India to promote research in social
sciences in the country.
o ICSSR provide grants for projects, fellowships, international
collaboration, capacity building, survey, publications etc. to promote
research in social sciences in India.
• About HEFA –
o Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) is a joint venture of MHRD
Government of India and Canara Bank with an agreed equity
participation in the ratio of 91% and 9% respectively.
o It is for financing creation of capital assets in premier educational
institutions in India as part of rising 2022.
o HEFA’s scope is greatly expanded to cover school education, educational
institutes under Ministry of Health, etc.
o HEFA is registered under Section 8 [Not-for-Profit] under the Companies
Act 2013 as a Union Govt company and as Non-deposit taking NBFC
(NBFC-ND-Type II) with RBI.
o HEFA helps in channelizing CSR and donations from corporate and
philanthropists as grants to these institutions to support their research
and development initiatives.
o It aims to lend low-cost funds to IITs, IIMs, the National Institutes of
Technology (NITs) and such other institutions for promoting research
and innovation.
4. Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration
(SPARC)
• Ministry of Human Resource Development has launched the web portal of the Scheme “Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC)”.
• The Government in August 2018 had sanctioned the scheme “Scheme for
Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC)” at a total cost of Rs.418 Cr for implementation up to 31.3.2020.
• Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur is the National Coordinating
Institute to implement the SPARC programme.
• The scheme aims at improving the research ecosystem of India’s higher
educational institutions by facilitating academic and research collaborations between Indian Institutions and the best institutions in the world.
• Under this Scheme, 600 joint research proposals will be awarded for 2 years to facilitate strong research collaboration between Indian research groups with the best in class faculty and renowned research groups in the leading universities of the world, in areas that are at the cutting edge of science or with direct social relevance to the mankind, specifically India.
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