21-member higher edu council formed

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 4

The government today constituted the 21-member State Higher Education Council with former HP University Vice-Chancellor Prof Sunil Gupta as Chairman and Principal Secretary, Education, KK Pant as Vice-Chairperson to advise the government on matters related to higher education.

The government had already appointed the Chairman of the council while the names of the remaining members were notified today. Besides, the council, set up under Section 3 of the HP State Higher Education Council (Establishment and Regulation) Act, will oversee the development aspect with perspective planning, keep a watch on the standards for promoting academic excellence and social justice by providing inputs to the state government for planning and policy formation.

It will also guide the department in accordance with socio-economic requirements of the state. The council will also oversee the implementation of the Rashtriya Uchhattar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) and as such Project Director of RUSA will be its member secretary.

“The first meeting of the council will be held shortly. Its main focus will be to improve the standards in higher educational institutions and to get the accreditation of NAAC for the institutions which are yet to be accredited,” said Professor Sunil Kumar Gupta.

The council would work for getting more grants under RUSA, he added.

Vice-Chancellors of Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, HP Technical University, Hamirpur, Central University, Kangra at Dharamsala, two Vice-Chancellors of private universities to be nominated by the government, the Secretary (Finance) to the HP Government, Secretary (Technical Education) and Director of Higher Education will be ex-officio members.

Five unofficial members include Dr Hari Mohan, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Satyavati College, Delhi University, Dr Vijay Kumar, State Liaison Officer (Retired), Naveen Sharma, coordinator, HP Skill Development Corporation, Shimla, Prof Bhag Chand, Department of Physics, Central University, Dharamsala, and Prof Prashant Gautam, Department of Tourism, Panjab University, Chandigarh.

The council also included two experts from the industry Ashwani Kaundal and Kuldeep Kaul, three principals of affiliated colleges and an academician, Prof Kailash Chandra Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, Kurukshetra University.

The focus 

• The council will oversee the development aspect and keep an eye on the standards for promoting academic excellence
• It will also guide the department in accordance with socio-economic requirements of the state
• It will oversee the implementation of the Rashtriya Uchhattar Shiksha Abhiyan and as such Project Director of RUSA will be its member secretary
• Its main focus will be to get the accreditation of NAAC for institutions