Bhubaneswar: In a bid to provide world-class higher education in the state, the government has drafted a comprehensive Higher Education Policy 2016 and sought opinions from various stakeholders.
The government uploaded the draft policy on the higher education department website (www.dheorissa.gov.in) and those interested can send their comments to vcfmuniversity@gmail.com by December 15 this year.
Last year, the government had constituted a committee headed by Fakir Mohan University vice chancellor Siba Prasad Adhikary to formulate the policy and the first draft was published in April this year.
After receiving a lot of recommendations and suggestions, the panel prepared a new draft keeping in view the salient features of the National Education Policy 2016 and Task Force Report on Higher Education 2010.
The draft provides for setting up of separate directorates in the north, south and western region and delegation of power to the regional directors for monitoring quality and effective administration of colleges located in remote areas.
Presently, there are three regional directorates, one each at Bhubaneswar, Berhampur and Sambalpur.
The draft policy suggested for rationalisation of service conditions of university and college employees including teachers and appointment of faculty with consideration for research and teaching.
“Appointment of adhoc teachers should be stopped completely. Teachers should be appointed through Orissa Public Service Commission (OPSC) in government colleges and Staff Selection Board (SSB) in government aided colleges. This will bring uniformity in the teachers’ cadre in higher education institutes and maintain quality,” the draft said.
State’s higher education budget should be raised to 6 per cent of GSDP and 30 per cent of the total state budget should be allocated for education, it said.
As per the policy, rural campus with incubation centres of all state universities will be created and participation of teachers of higher education institutions (HEIs) in private coaching will be banned.
All HEIs will remain open throughout the day during office hours (six days a week) and the teachers should remain present for a minimum period of 5 hours each day and 40 hours per week.
A specific policy on student union elections will be formulated to curb violence and campus turbulence which drastically affects the number of teaching hours and has a direct impact on implementation of choice based credit system (CBCS).
Besides, the committee has made provision for establishment of e- library, e-resources, rain-water harvesting systems and computer labs in universities and colleges. Introduction of physical education and skill courses in all HEIs has also been mooted
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