Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme (EQUIP)

The Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Human Resource Development has come out with an five-year vision plan named Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme (EQUIP).

The vision plan has been prepared after a detailed exercise done by the Experts covering the following ten areas:

• Strategies for expanding access.
• Towards global best teaching/learning process.
• Promoting Excellence.
• Governance reforms.
• Assessment, Accreditation & Ranking systems.
• Promotion of research & innovation.
• Employability & entrepreneurship.
• Using Technology for better reach.
• Financing higher education.

The Vision plan which consists of more than 50 initiatives to transform the higher education environment sets the following goals:

• Double the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education and resolve the geographically and socially skewed access to higher education institutions in India
• Upgrade the quality of education to global standards.
• Position at least 50 Indian institutions among the top-1000 global universities.
• Introduce governance reforms in higher education for well-administered campuses.
• Accreditation of all institutions as an assurance of quality.
• Promote Research & Innovation ecosystems for positioning India in the Top-3 countries in the world in matters of knowledge creation
• Double the employability of the students passing out of higher education.
• Harness education technology for expanding the reach and improving pedagogy.
• Promote India as a global study destination.
• Achieve a quantum increase in investment in higher education.

The vision plan would be placed before the cabinet for approval after inter-departmental consultations.