Reservation in private universities, NTA annual reports, CUET review among Parliament panel’s recommendations

NEW DELHI: A parliament panel has recommended that the government frame laws to provide reservation for historically-marginalised groups in private universities as well. The parliamentary standing committee on education, women, children, youth and sports published its report on Wednesday, recommending changes to both policy and funding practices across a host of schemes and programmes in higher education.

Led by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh, the panel’s recommendation on reservation is based on analysis of data from the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) as well as a study tour the committee undertook in Bengaluru.

“The Committee notes that the data presented by private universities in its study visit to Bengaluru, as well as extant data collected through AISHE, shows that there is severe underrepresentation of SC/STs in particular and OBCs as well in private universities and HEIs,” says the report. “The Committee believes that the provision of equitable opportunities to all sections of society is a fundamental duty of all HEIs, private or public, and is in keeping with the Constitutional value of fraternity and justice.”

The National Testing Agency has been criticised for not submitting annual reports to either parliament or the panel “despite a request from the Committee to do so”. The panel has also resolved to “deliberate” on the Common University Entrance Test (CUET), made compulsory for admission to central universities by the University Grants Commission in 2022. It has recommended a “review of the quality of question paper and also design of the CUET exam”.

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The body also criticised the University of Grants Commission (UGC) for not doing a wider consultation, including with the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), before releasing its draft regulations for recruitment of college and university teachers.

Education budget, NEP, PM USHA

The bulk of the report dwells on higher education funding. Noting the shrinking growth rate of higher education’s share in the union budget over the past few years, a parliamentary panel has recommended an annual 8-10% increase in central funding to accommodate inflation.

The year-on-year increase in allocation for higher education has dropped from around 8% in 2023-24 to a mere 5.16% in 2024-25. The panel also notes that as of December 2024, the department had spent only around Rs 33,239 crore out of Rs 46,482 crore outlay (revised estimates). This, according to the panel, is a violation of the finance ministry’s guidelines restricting the last quarter expenditure to 33%.

It has noted the meagre allocations to schemes like Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM USHA), meant to support higher education in the states, especially given the demands made by new National Education Policy 2020 on staff and education infrastructure.

“NEP compliance requires substantial costs on several heads - dual degree, biannual admissions, 4-year degree, and multidisciplinary university. Given that most universities and HEIs are run by state governments, the expenditure for this compliance is borne by States even as the goals are set by the union government,” says the report. “The Committee recommends that a reasonable increase should be made in the budget of PM-USHA over the next few years with the goals of the NEP in mind.”

The panel has also sounded an alarm on the relatively-low education loan disbursement by public sector banks, below-par funding for central institutes’ infrastructure through the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) and poor utilisation of grants given under various programmes such as Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC).

The parliamentary body also noted that while the education ministry had made projections of Rs. 56,993.56 crore for higher education to the ministry of finance for 2025-26, it only got Rs. 50,077.95 crore - a difference of 12%.

NTA and CUET exam

While appreciating the introduction of the CUET UG and PG for admission to central universities, the committee expressed concerns over the examination method. “Some members of the Committee are not convinced of the merits of introducing the CUET as the universal admissions method for undergraduate studies. MCQ answers are particularly ill-suited for humanities and social sciences disciplines which are definitionally centered on independent, subjective thinking,” says the report.

The panel also contended that the exam may get in the way of universities fulfilling their specific needs.

Citing JNU’s example, it said, “the JNU system of test administration was designed to ensure that the university was able to fulfil the criterion of socio-economic and regional diversity and representation mandated by the JNU Act in its admissions. The CUET as the sole entrance examination has its merits, but it does not allow for universities like JNU, with their specific legislative mandates, to meet their specific needs.”

The panel demanded that all central universities submit annual admissions reports outlining gender, caste, social, ethnic, rural-urban, national, and class background of students their respective academic and executive councils.

On ‘Institutes of Eminence’

The committee particularly criticised the reduction in planned spending towards the government’s initiative to create world-class institutions from Rs 1,800 crore in 2024-25 to Rs 475 crore in 2025-26.

Expressing concern about the delay in submitting utilisation certificates by grantees and institutions, the report recommends putting in place a mechanism to fix accountability of the concerned officials.

While discussing the centre’s plan to create twenty institutes of eminence (IoEs), the committee questioned as to why nearly eight years after the programme was launched, the department has been able to notify only twelve institutes. It recommended that the remaining universities as IoEs be expedited and also suggested that other universities such as Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) be also be covered under the scheme

Fellowship delays

In the wake of the union government enhancing the budget for the PM Research Fellowship (PMRF) from last year’s Rs 350 crore to Rs 600 crore, the committee pointed out that only Rs 282 crore of the planned expenditure has been released. The committee called for specific mechanisms to ensure better utilization of allocations made in 2025-26.

The panel also took note of delay in issuing junior and senior research fellowships (JRF/SRF), which the ministry blamed on late submission of claims by higher education institutions. “[The committee] observes that the current process with its requirement for a monthly submission of claims may be unnecessarily bureaucratic given that most recipients are due a fellowship of two years. It accordingly recommends that the ministry may further streamline the process by which fellowships are claimed,” reads the report document.

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Education loans

The committee report, citing figures from the Indian Bank Association (IBA), reported a steady growth in sanctioning of education loans from around 1.34 lakh recipients in 2020-21 to 2.75 lakh in 2024-25. However, the panel found that the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for loan disbursement in public banks to be 38% and 31% respectively. By comparison, private sector banks registered 102% and 87 per cent% CAGR in this period.

Calling this growth unsatisfactory, the committee recommended that the public sector banks should ensure timely disbursement of loans. “The procedural mechanism for loan disbursal should be simplified and the department should work with the Ministry of Finance to achieve the same,” it said.

UGC teacher recruitment regulations

The committee also dwelt on the UGC’s new draft regulations for teacher recruitment, which have met with stiff opposition from teachers’ and student groups. While noting that of 1,100 universities and university-level institutes in the country, only 239 are centrally-run, the committee advised UGC to include all stakeholders in revising the recruitment norms for teachers.

“UGC, being the statutory body, should review the draft UGC regulations (2025) and ensure that they do not transgress the exclusive jurisdiction of respective legislatures, and the Acts passed by them to govern the Central and State Universities,” says the report.