Education Budget 2024: Higher ed sees Rs 9,600 crore cut from RE; UGC funds halved

NEW DELHI: The interim budget 2024 presented by finance minister Nirmala SItharaman on Thursday allocated Rs 47,619.77 crore to higher education, which is an increase of Rs 3,525.15 crore or 7.4% from the budget estimate for the 2023-24 financial year. However, the higher education department’s budget had been revised to Rs 57,244.48 crore in the current financial year. Compared to that, next year’s outlay represents a Rs 9,600-crore cut.

From research and innovation to grants to institutions, all have seen a marginal increase. However, at Rs 1,908 crore, allocation to financial aid for students is slightly lower than this year’s Rs 1,954 crore.

While funds earmarked for central universities have gone up substantially, the top higher education regulator, University Grants Commission’s (UGC) outlay is less than half of the current year’s budget estimate. The Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) have seen a drop for the second year in a row. The Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching has seen its budget more than double to Rs 100 crore.

Overall the education sector's budget allocation is Rs 1,20,627.87 crore, an increase of 6.4% from Rs 1,12,899.47 crore in the 2023-24 budget.

Education Budget 2024: Higher education department (2020-24)

Higher Education Budget 2024: IIT, IIM, universities

Among the institutions, central universities have the lion’s share in the interim budget 2024.

Central universities, which had received the highest allocation Rs 11,528.90 crore in the last budget, bagged Rs 15,928 crore in budget 2024, an increase of over Rs 4,300 crore. However, Rs 378 crore from the outlay is for repayment of principal loan to Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA).

Parallely, budget 2024 allocation to higher education regulatory body UGC has seen a massive drop to Rs 2,500 crore from Rs 5,360 crore in 2023-24 budget. The revised budget estimate for the regulatory body was Rs 6,409 crore. The allocation to the UGC, also a grant-making and funding agency for higher education in the country, is the lowest in the last four years.

Education Budget 2024: IIT, IIM, NIT, IISER, universities, UGC (In Rs crore)

For Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), the budget 2024 allocation has increased to Rs 10,324.50 crore from Rs 9,661.50 crore. For IITs too, around Rs 300 crore is for repayment of HEFA loan.

The National Institutes Technology (NIT) and IIEST allocation in the interim budget 2024 stands at Rs 5,040 crore, an increase from Rs 4,820 crore in the current financial year.

The outlay announced for Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs) has seen a marginal drop with Rs 212.12 crore allocated to them as against Rs 300 crore in the 2023-24 budget. About Rs 141.21 crore is for repayment of the principal amount of HEFA loans. The institutes have been witnessing gradual decrease in allocations since 2023-24.

India’s top research institute Indian Institute of Science (IISC) has been allocated Rs 918.27 crore in the upcoming financial year, an increase of 11% from Rs.815.40 crores in the current financial year.

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has been handed Rs 400 crore as against Rs 420 crore announced in the 2023-24 financial year.

Education Budget: Financial aid, AI

Allocations to various financial aid schemes for the higher education sector have witnessed an overall drop of nearly 2.3% this year as against the budget presented for the 2023-24 financial year. The revised budget estimate was, however, Rs.1,384.00 crore.

Under financial aid, the PM Research Fellowship allocation has dropped to Rs 350 crore from Rs 400 crore in the 2023-24 interim budget. There has been no allocation for the Special Scholarship Scheme for Jammu and Kashmir.

Student financial aid, which is under the PM Uchchatar Shiksha Protsahan (PM-USP) Yojna, has received an allocation of Rs 1,558 crore, an increase of 0.25 % from the current financial year’s outlay of Rs. 1,554 crore.

Interim Budget 2024: Research funding

After the cut in funds for research in 2023-24, research schemes have been allotted Rs 355 crore for the next financial year, an increase from Rs 210.61 crore. The revised estimate in the current year was Rs 193.19 crore.

The budget for Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT), a pan-IIT and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) joint research initiative, has seen its budget double to Rs 10 crore. But the parallel scheme for pushing social science research has been all but scrapped, receiving no allocation for the second year in a row.

The Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) which facilitates academic and research collaborations between Indian and foreign institutions has received an allocation Rs100 crore, exactly double its budget for 2023-24. This represents a revival of the scheme as it had been witnessing a cut in funding since the 2022-23 financial year.

The Scheme for Transformational and Advanced Research in Sciences (STARS), which aims to integrate science education and research, has received Rs 30 crore, a small increase over the current financial-years budget estimate but less than half the revised estimate of over Rs 94 crore.

Higher Education Budget 2024: Major schemes, research (in Rs Cr)

The Multidisciplinary Education and Research Improvement in Technical Education (MERITE) scheme saw an allocation of Rs 200 crore. This scheme had in 2023-24 budget seen its allocation rise from Rs 2 crore to Rs 100 crore. It is supported by the World Bank.

With a focus on vocational and skill education, the National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS) has been allocated Rs.600 crore an increase from Rs.440 score in 2023-24 budget.

Also read Education Budget 2024: Schooling sees outlay increase by 6.1%; PM SHRI gets Rs 6,000 crore

Education Budget 2024: PM USHA, digital learning

Rashtriya Uchhatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), now named Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA), has been allocated Rs 1,814.94 crore in the 2024-25 education budget, up from RUSA’s Rs 1,500 crore.

A centrally-sponsored scheme, PM USHA – and RUSA before it – supports state higher and technical education institutions. The scheme had been witnessing a continuous fund cut, the largest in 2022-23 when it dropped to Rs 2,042.95 crore from Rs 3,000 crore the previous year.

Emphasising the impact of Artificial Intelligence on education, the interim budget 2024 allocated Rs 255 crore to the Centres of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence. The government will be presenting another budget in 2024 after the Lok Sabha elections.

In case of digital learning, the budget allocation has increased to Rs 505 crore as against Rs 420 crore in the 2023-24 budget. The National Digital University has also been allocated Rs 100 crore.

Education Budget 2024: Medical education

Asserting that the youth of the country are ambitious to get qualified as doctors and aim to serve people through improved healthcare services, Sitharaman, in her budget 2024 speech, said: “Our government plans to set up more medical colleges by utilising existing hospital infrastructure under various departments. A committee for this purpose will be set up to examine the issues and make relevant recommendations.”

In the interim budget 2024-25, an amount of Rs 6,800 crore has been allocated for the establishment of new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) compared to Rs 6,735 crore in the revised estimates of financial year 2023-24.