Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA)

About Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA)

• It was launched in 2013 as a centrally sponsored programme to improve access, equity, and quality in higher education through the planned development of higher education at the state level.
• It aims to work with 300-plus state universities and their affiliated colleges.
• Objectives:
  • creating new academic institutions,
  • expanding and upgrading the existing ones,
  • developing institutions that are self-reliant in terms of quality education, professionally managed, and characterized by a greater inclination towards research.
• Funding:
  • It aims at providing strategic funding to eligible state higher educational institutions. 
  • The central funding is based on norms and is outcome-dependent.
  • Funds flow from the central ministry through the state governments/union territories before reaching the identified institutions.
  • Funding to states would be made on the basis of the critical appraisal of State Higher Education Plans, which would enlist each state’s strategy to address issues of equity, access, and excellence in higher education.
• PM-USHA places greater emphasis on the improvement of the quality of teaching and learning processes in order to produce employable and competitive graduates, postgraduates and PhDs. 
• The programme focuses on state higher educational institutions and draws upon the best practices from colleges and universities across the nation.

Q1) Who regulates Higher education in India?

Presently, higher education is regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and 14 professional councils such as the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) and the National Medical Commission (NMC).

Source: Dharmendra Pradhan writes to Naveen Patnaik for implementation of PM-USHA scheme in Odisha