Bhubaneswar: In a bid to facilitate higher education among tribal students, the state government has urged the Centre to set up five modern degree colleges under the Rashtriya Uchhartar Sikshya Abhiyan (RUSA) 2.0.
RUSA 2.0 is the second edition of RUSA, which was launched 2013 to provide strategic funding to eligible states’ higher education institutors for infrastructure improvement.
Recently, the state Higher Education Department has written to the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) in this regard, an official said here Sunday. The state government has proposed the MHRD to set up the modern degree colleges at Chitrakonda in Malkangiri district, Raighar in Nabarangpur, Kashipur in Rayagada, Nuagaon in Sundergarh and Dharakote in Ganjam districts. As these blocks don’t have even a single college, the government has proposed these five places for establishing colleges under RUSA 2.0, the official said.
Eight Model Degree Colleges have been constructed in the state under RUSA, while teaching and learning activities have also started in these institutions last year, sources said.
While RUSA has benefitted the colleges and universities greatly vis-à-vis infrastructure construction, development of academic infrastructure support from RUSA is needed.The state has also approached the MHRD for approval of a proposal to provide ‘Centre of Excellence’ status to four leading universities in the state. These universities are Utkal University, Sambalpur University, Berhampur University and Ravenshaw University.
PNN