Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA)

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18-Feb-2022: Government approves Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) Scheme to continue till 31st March, 2026

The Government has approved the scheme of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) for continuation till 31.03.2026 or till further review, whichever is earlier. The proposal entails an expenditure of Rs. 12929.16 crore out of which Central Share is Rs. 8120.97 crores and the State Share is of Rs. 4808.19 crores. It has been envisaged to support around 1600 projects under the new phase of the scheme.

Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) is an overarching scheme, operating in mission mode for funding the state government universities and colleges to achieve the aims of equity, access and excellence.

New phase of RUSA targets to reach out the unserved, underserved areas; remote/ rural areas; difficult geographies; LWE areas; NER; aspirational districts, tier-2 cities,  areas with low GER etc., and to benefit the most disadvantaged areas and SEDGs.

The new phase of the scheme has been designed to implement some of the recommendations and aims of the New Education Policy, which suggests some key changes to the current higher education system to revamp and re-energize it and thereby deliver quality higher education, with equity and inclusion.

Under the new phase of the scheme, State Governments will be supported for Gender inclusion, Equity Initiatives, ICT, Enhancing employability through vocationalisation & skill upgradation. States will also be supported for creation of new Model Degree Colleges. State Universities will be supported for Multi-Disciplinary Education and Research. Grants will be provided for strengthening both accredited and non-accredited Universities and Colleges for undertaking various activities including teaching-learning in Indian languages.

1-Mar-2021: Union Education Minister chairs a review meeting on Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan

Union Education Minister chaired a review meeting on Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) in New Delhi today. Secretary, Higher Education Shri Amit Khare along with senior officials of the ministry attended the meeting.

During the meeting Shri Pokhriyal asked the officials to strengthen the RUSA Scheme and to draw plans on educating additional 3.5 crore students to increase GER to 50% by 2035. A total of 7 crore students with employable skills that suits local conditions should pass out from our colleges and Universities, he added.

He further said that to reach the last mile students, online distance learning and infrastructure development should be encouraged across the country. The Minister stressed that education should lead to local employment. Education in Degree College should be aligned with “One district one product” plan.

Shri Pokhriyal also said that University Grants Commission will monitor the progress of work done by Institutions which received funding under RUSA Scheme. The Minister will review the RUSA Scheme in every three months.

6-Aug-2018: NITI Aayog identified 117 districts as Aspirational Districts for RUSA Scheme

NITI Aayog has identified 117 districts as ‘Aspirational Districts’. These districts have been selected on the basis of composite index which includes published data of deprivation enumerated under Socio-Economic Caste Census, Health &Nutrition, Education and Basic Infrastructure.

During the second phase of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), central assistance is provided for opening of new Model Degree Colleges(MDCs) in  ‘Aspirational Districts’ identified by NITI Aayog and in unserved & underserved districts in North Eastern and Himalayan States. The Project Approval Board (PAB) of RUSA has approved central support for one MDC each in 70 such districts including 6 in Odisha.

An Expert Committee constituted by the University Grants Commission (UGC) had identified 374 Educationally Backward Districts (EBDs) where Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education was less than the national average of 12.4% based on 2001 census data.

During the first phase of RUSA, central assistance to States has been provided for creation of one Model Degree College each in 60 EBDs including 8 in Odisha.

The central support provided under the component of new MDCs is infrastructural in nature in which funds are released for creation of Colleges with requisite infrastructure such as appropriate number of class rooms, library, laboratory, faculty rooms, toilet blocks and other essential requirements for technologically advanced facilities. Further, under this component, a commitment is given by the State Governments that all recurring expenditure (including salaries) in respect of the MDC being established, will be borne by the respective State Government.

Additionally, under a separate component of RUSA viz., Faculty Recruitment Support, central support is provided for creation of additional posts of Assistant Professors subject to specific norms and approved period of the scheme (i.e. upto 31st March 2020). Further, under this component, a commitment is required to be given by the State Governments to take over liability of such faculty positions after 31st March 2020.

21-Mar-2018: Cabinet approves continuation RUSA

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its approval for continuation of Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) from 1.04.2017 to 31.03.2020.

Major impact and Targets:

  1. RUSA seeks to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio of the country to 30% by 2020
  2. It also seeks to increase the spending on higher education by the State Governments
  3. The scheme, in its 2nd phase, aims at creation of 70 new model degree colleges and 8 new professional colleges; Enhancing quality and Excellence in 10 select State universities and 70autonomous colleges, providing infrastructural support to 50 universities and 750 colleges etc.
  4. Improving access, equity and accessibility of higher education in Slates through reforms such as academic reforms, governance reforms, affiliation reforms etc.
  5. Improve equity in higher education by providing adequate opportunities of higher education to socially deprived communities; promote inclusion of women, minorities, SC/ST/OBCs and differently abled persons.
  6. To identity and fill up the existing gaps in higher education, by augmenting and supporting the State Governments' efforts.
  7. Promote a spirit of healthy competition amongst states and institutions to excel in quality higher education, research and innovation.

Funding ratio: The project cost in the public funded institutions for all sub-components is shared between the Central Government and State Governments in the ratio of 90:10 for North-Eastern States, J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, 60:40 for other States and UTs with Legislature and 100:0 for UTs without Legislature.

Background: RUSA is an overarching scheme, operated in a mission mode for funding the state universities and colleges in order to achieve the aims of equity, access and excellence. It seeks to improve the overall quality of existing State higher educational institutions by ensuring their conformity to prescribed norms and standards.

Transformative reforms such as governance, academic, affiliation and accreditation reforms are pre-requisites in the implementation of the scheme in State higher educational institutions.

The funding to States is based on critical appraisal of State Higher Education Plans. These plans are required to address each State's strategy to address issues of equity, access and excellence in higher education.

All funding under the RUSA are norm based and future grants are outcome dependent.

Pin It
Whatsapp

18-Feb-2022: Government approves Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) Scheme to continue till 31st March, 2026

The Government has approved the scheme of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) for continuation till 31.03.2026 or till further review, whichever is earlier. The proposal entails an expenditure of Rs. 12929.16 crore out of which Central Share is Rs. 8120.97 crores and the State Share is of Rs. 4808.19 crores. It has been envisaged to support around 1600 projects under the new phase of the scheme.

Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) is an overarching scheme, operating in mission mode for funding the state government universities and colleges to achieve the aims of equity, access and excellence.

New phase of RUSA targets to reach out the unserved, underserved areas; remote/ rural areas; difficult geographies; LWE areas; NER; aspirational districts, tier-2 cities,  areas with low GER etc., and to benefit the most disadvantaged areas and SEDGs.

The new phase of the scheme has been designed to implement some of the recommendations and aims of the New Education Policy, which suggests some key changes to the current higher education system to revamp and re-energize it and thereby deliver quality higher education, with equity and inclusion.

Under the new phase of the scheme, State Governments will be supported for Gender inclusion, Equity Initiatives, ICT, Enhancing employability through vocationalisation & skill upgradation. States will also be supported for creation of new Model Degree Colleges. State Universities will be supported for Multi-Disciplinary Education and Research. Grants will be provided for strengthening both accredited and non-accredited Universities and Colleges for undertaking various activities including teaching-learning in Indian languages.

1-Mar-2021: Union Education Minister chairs a review meeting on Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan

Union Education Minister chaired a review meeting on Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) in New Delhi today. Secretary, Higher Education Shri Amit Khare along with senior officials of the ministry attended the meeting.

During the meeting Shri Pokhriyal asked the officials to strengthen the RUSA Scheme and to draw plans on educating additional 3.5 crore students to increase GER to 50% by 2035. A total of 7 crore students with employable skills that suits local conditions should pass out from our colleges and Universities, he added.

He further said that to reach the last mile students, online distance learning and infrastructure development should be encouraged across the country. The Minister stressed that education should lead to local employment. Education in Degree College should be aligned with “One district one product” plan.

Shri Pokhriyal also said that University Grants Commission will monitor the progress of work done by Institutions which received funding under RUSA Scheme. The Minister will review the RUSA Scheme in every three months.

6-Aug-2018: NITI Aayog identified 117 districts as Aspirational Districts for RUSA Scheme

NITI Aayog has identified 117 districts as ‘Aspirational Districts’. These districts have been selected on the basis of composite index which includes published data of deprivation enumerated under Socio-Economic Caste Census, Health &Nutrition, Education and Basic Infrastructure.

During the second phase of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), central assistance is provided for opening of new Model Degree Colleges(MDCs) in  ‘Aspirational Districts’ identified by NITI Aayog and in unserved & underserved districts in North Eastern and Himalayan States. The Project Approval Board (PAB) of RUSA has approved central support for one MDC each in 70 such districts including 6 in Odisha.

An Expert Committee constituted by the University Grants Commission (UGC) had identified 374 Educationally Backward Districts (EBDs) where Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education was less than the national average of 12.4% based on 2001 census data.

During the first phase of RUSA, central assistance to States has been provided for creation of one Model Degree College each in 60 EBDs including 8 in Odisha.

The central support provided under the component of new MDCs is infrastructural in nature in which funds are released for creation of Colleges with requisite infrastructure such as appropriate number of class rooms, library, laboratory, faculty rooms, toilet blocks and other essential requirements for technologically advanced facilities. Further, under this component, a commitment is given by the State Governments that all recurring expenditure (including salaries) in respect of the MDC being established, will be borne by the respective State Government.

Additionally, under a separate component of RUSA viz., Faculty Recruitment Support, central support is provided for creation of additional posts of Assistant Professors subject to specific norms and approved period of the scheme (i.e. upto 31st March 2020). Further, under this component, a commitment is required to be given by the State Governments to take over liability of such faculty positions after 31st March 2020.

21-Mar-2018: Cabinet approves continuation RUSA

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its approval for continuation of Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) from 1.04.2017 to 31.03.2020.

Major impact and Targets:

  1. RUSA seeks to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio of the country to 30% by 2020
  2. It also seeks to increase the spending on higher education by the State Governments
  3. The scheme, in its 2nd phase, aims at creation of 70 new model degree colleges and 8 new professional colleges; Enhancing quality and Excellence in 10 select State universities and 70autonomous colleges, providing infrastructural support to 50 universities and 750 colleges etc.
  4. Improving access, equity and accessibility of higher education in Slates through reforms such as academic reforms, governance reforms, affiliation reforms etc.
  5. Improve equity in higher education by providing adequate opportunities of higher education to socially deprived communities; promote inclusion of women, minorities, SC/ST/OBCs and differently abled persons.
  6. To identity and fill up the existing gaps in higher education, by augmenting and supporting the State Governments' efforts.
  7. Promote a spirit of healthy competition amongst states and institutions to excel in quality higher education, research and innovation.

Funding ratio: The project cost in the public funded institutions for all sub-components is shared between the Central Government and State Governments in the ratio of 90:10 for North-Eastern States, J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, 60:40 for other States and UTs with Legislature and 100:0 for UTs without Legislature.

Background: RUSA is an overarching scheme, operated in a mission mode for funding the state universities and colleges in order to achieve the aims of equity, access and excellence. It seeks to improve the overall quality of existing State higher educational institutions by ensuring their conformity to prescribed norms and standards.

Transformative reforms such as governance, academic, affiliation and accreditation reforms are pre-requisites in the implementation of the scheme in State higher educational institutions.

The funding to States is based on critical appraisal of State Higher Education Plans. These plans are required to address each State's strategy to address issues of equity, access and excellence in higher education.

All funding under the RUSA are norm based and future grants are outcome dependent.

2017

17-Apr-2017: Prakash Javadekar launches the Fund and Reform Tracker of RUSA

Union Minister of Human Resource Development Shri Prakash Javadekar launched the Fund and Reform Tracker developed by Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA).

The Fund and Reform Tracker, as the name suggests, will monitor RUSA projects from the minute they are sanctioned and track their progress till their final completion. The Reform Tracker, on the other hand, will be a sort of a report card of states with details of their higher education policies, plans and best practices. These have largely been reflected in their commitment given to the central government.

There has never been a more exciting time in the education sector as now. To re-imagine our classrooms, be in sync with time and technology and engage stakeholders in constant conversation to do and achieve more, is the aim of this App.

This interface will be available for the central government, the state higher education stakeholders and institutional leaders, apart from thousands of vendors panned across India. Each will get a varied level of access to the App depending on their role and functionality.

Some of the key highlights of the App are;

It will capture the fund allocation as per the Project Approval Board, the instalment-wise fund release by the centre and the state, the institution-wise key project, vendors appointed and the payment made to them as also stage-wise photos and time stamps of payments made and comments entered.

Component-wise details give a quick snapshot into the funding of RUSA projects. Whether it is infrastructure grants of equity initiatives, this window gives a peek into the funds approved, the amount released, the sum utilized and the percentage of work completed.

Stakeholders can also get granular details on the money released from the centre and the state. The date stamps give a picture on the timelines followed and the pictures provide the ground reality.

Tracking projects is the soul of this App, and every initiative is tagged with a unique ID number, thus providing the entire story of how an idea germinated and matured.

A powerful Dashboard gives an overall picture of the scheme and the state-wise performance of the impact that the programme has made.

RUSA has invested and will continue to infuse resources in state universities. With over 94% of India’s student population in state institution, the two-year-old RUSA scheme has made its impact felt at thousands of campuses. As India’s youth demands high quality education and a rich campus experience, it is imperative that states pick best practices from each other.

Hence, it is only critical that RUSA expands in breadth and deepens in its reach. And at the MHRD, this reliance on technology will pave the way for smarter governance in the New Digital India.