Parliament Question: Standards and quality of higher education in Maharashtra

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-2130 ANSWERED ON- 11/03/2026 Standards and quality of higher education in Maharashtra 2130 Shri Sanjay Raut: Will the Minister of Education be pleased to state: (a) whether Government has reviewed compliance of Colleges and Universities in Maharashtra with norms prescribed by the University Grants Commission, particularly regarding faculty strength, infrastructure and teaching quality; (b) the number of sanctioned teaching posts lying vacant, extent of reliance on ad-hoc or contractual teachers and deficiencies in laboratory and digital infrastructure during the last five years; (c) whether central grants released for higher education in Maharashtra have lapsed or have remained unutilised; and (d) the steps taken or proposed, with timelines, to fill vacancies, upgrade infrastructure, enforce UGC regulations and improve teaching quality and employability of graduate and engineering students in the State? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR) (a) & (b): Education being a subject in the Concurrent List of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India, Centre and States are equally responsible for providing quality education in all Universities established under Central Acts and State Acts. There is one Central University in the State of Maharashtra, namely, Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwvidyalaya, Wardha. The details of sanctioned teaching posts in the university are as follows: - Name of Post Sanctioned strength Professor 19 Associate Professor 21 Assistant Professor 88 Total 128 The details of grants released by the University Grants Commission to Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwvidyalaya, Wardha, Maharasthra during the last three years are as follows: - (Rs. In lakhs) Year Recurring Salary Capital Assets 2022-23 2395.00 3533.00 600.00 2023-24 2977.00 3919.00 600.00 2024-25 2500.00 4010.00 150.00(c): The Department of Higher Education is implementing Rashtriya Uchchtar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), aimed at funding specific State Government Universities and colleges, so as to improve their quality by ensuring their conformity to prescribed norms and standards. The Government has launched the third phase of RUSA in June, 2023 in the form of Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA). Under the scheme, a total of 144 units for a total amount of Rs.1431.31 crore have been approved in the State of Maharashtra. (d): The Universities are statutory autonomous organizations established under respective Central/ State Acts and governed by provisions of the Acts/Statutes/Ordinances/Regulations made thereunder. As autonomous institutions, faculty recruitment is done within the institutions itself, in accordance with their Acts and Regulations. The recruitment powers vest with the respective Statutory Bodies. Occurrence of vacancies and filling thereof is a continuous process. In August, 2021, all Central Higher Education Institutions (CHEIs) under the Ministry of Education have been requested to undertake special drive to fill backlog vacancies in their institutions in Mission Mode. Accordingly, from September, 2022 upto 24.01.2026 (i.e. the date of last Rozgar Mela) a total of 17878 faculty and 12842 non faculty appointments have been made in the CHEIs under the Mission recruitment. The Department of Higher Education is implementing a Central Sector Scheme namely Malaviya Mission Teachers Training Programme (MMTTP) through 151 Malaviya Mission Teachers Training Centres (MMTTCs) to train the faculty of higher education across the country. Out of these, 15 MMTTCs are located in Maharashtra. Total faculty members trained from the State of Maharashtra under MMTTP is 47165. Further, the UGC has also issued instructions to the higher educational instructions for the recruitment of faculty. UGC has also launched the "Guidelines for Higher Education Institutions to offer Apprenticeship Embedded Degree Programme" in all disciplines as specified under the UGC Act, 1956 to embed apprenticeship into the degree. *****