COIMBATORE: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has drawn up plans to enrol 62.97 lakh students into the portals of higher education through various schemes to be implemented under the 12th Five Year Plan. This is aimed at increasing the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher educational institutions to a minimum of 25 per cent between 2012 and 2017.The UGC 12th plan document has projected that the GER would be anywhere between 25 and 50 per cent, if its proposal to increase the intake capacities of public-funded and Central Universities is implemented. This would be done by adopting integration of graduate programmes in selected subjects and increasing intake of existing programmes based on demand and relevance.“Even if 50 per cent of the 317 universities in the country increase the total students’ intake by an average of 30 per cent, there will be an increased enrolment by 2 lakh students in these institutions during the plan period,” the document said.Besides, 43 Central Universities, except a few like the Delhi University are functioning with disproportionately low student enrolment compared to the campus area. “A 100 per cent increase in intake is feasible in at least 30 of these university campuses. The scarcity of land has necessitated a vertical growth rather than a horizontal spread,” the UGC concept note said.The total number of colleges in the country are reported to be 31,324 with an enrolment of 13 million and if 20,000 of them are covered under Section 12(B) of the UGC Act and included for “special funding” for expansion and capacity-building, and are given a target of 50 per cent increase in capacities, it can lead to good increase in enrolment.“Assuming the average strength of a college in India, to be 400 from the current data, a modest average increase of 200 students per college will result in an increase of 40 lakh,” it added. If the sch eme of 374 proposed model colleges in educationally backward districts is taken forward, 1,87,000 students will get enrolled.
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