A policy report offering insights into the standards of state public universities across India was released by NITI Aayog on Monday.
Titled Expanding Quality Higher Education through States and State Public Universities, the report was launched by Suman Bery, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, alongside CEO B.V.R. Subrahmanyam and other senior officials.
According to NITI Aayog, this first-of-its-kind document provides a comprehensive analysis of key indicators such as quality, funding, governance, and employability trends in state public universities (SPUs) over the past decade.
The report draws on extensive stakeholder consultations, involving higher education officials from over 20 states and union territories, vice-chancellors from 50 SPUs, and leaders from state higher education councils.
Speaking at the launch, Bery emphasized the importance of SPUs in setting high academic standards, drawing comparisons with public universities in countries like the U.S. and Brazil. He reiterated NITI Aayog’s role in research and evidence-building, while implementation falls under the purview of central and state ministries.
Dr. Vinod Kumar Paul, Member (Education), linked the report’s findings to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and India’s vision for ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’. He stressed that since 80% of India’s higher education takes place in SPUs, strengthening them is essential for human capital development.
Subrahmanyam highlighted that by 2035, NEP 2020 aims to double higher education enrollment to nearly nine crore students, with around seven crore studying in SPUs. He underscored the urgency for these universities to shift from merely providing access to education to delivering world-class academic standards.
Secretary of the Department of Higher Education, Vineet Joshi, pointed to recent budget initiatives such as the selection of 10,000 PM Research Fellows, the expansion of second-generation IITs, and the Bharatiya Bhasha textbook scheme to promote regional language education. He also noted the allocation of ₹13,000 crore under PM-USHA from 2023-24 to 2025-26, with ₹100 crore designated per SPU for their transformation into Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs).
Dr. Pankaj Mittal, Secretary General of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), highlighted that the report addresses three major challenges identified by vice chancellors: funding constraints, governance reforms, and capacity building for faculty and administrators.
The report provides nearly 80 policy recommendations with short, medium, and long-term implementation strategies. It outlines steps to improve research quality, pedagogy, and curriculum, strengthen governance frameworks, increase industry-academia collaboration, and enhance financial sustainability.
