Baripada: In a bid to spread higher education benefits among all sections of society, the Centre has set a target of 30 per cent Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) by the end of the 12th five-year plan.
Director of National Assessment And Accreditation Amarnath Rai said on Saturday the GER target would be achieved through 'Rashtriya Uchchatar Shikshya Abhiyan'.
GER now stands at 20 per cent and with large-scale participation of public sector and NGOs, the huge gap of 70 per cent could be reduced and the objective of higher GER achieved.
Citing an analysis, Rai said the registration pattern indicated there was below average enrolment among women, Muslims and the weaker sections of the society. In addition, there was also a big gap between urban and rural areas.
There were only 26 universities and 595 colleges in the country at the time of independence but now there are 651 universities and 35,000 colleges.
Earlier assessment and accreditation of universities and colleges was optional but the same is now mandatory as per the UGC guidelines, Rai said.
Rai said there was a huge shortage of quality teachers resulting in at least 40 per cent of vacancies for qualified faculty.
"As a nation, we also need to finalise the national qualification framework for higher education to ensure inter- opertionality across the globe", he said.