On February 18, 2022, Ministry of Education approved the continuation of ‘Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) Scheme’ till 2026.

Highlights

• RUSA is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS).
• It was launched to fund state government universities and colleges for achieving the aims of equity, excellence and access.

Extension of RUSA

The new phase of RUSA has set target to reach out the unserved & underserved areas, difficult geographies, remote areas, rural areas, tier-2 cities, aspirational districts, areas with low GER, in order to benefit the most disadvantaged areas and Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Groups. Under the new phase, state governments will be supported for gender inclusion, ICT, equity initiatives, and enhancing employability through skill upgradation and vocationalisation.

Expenditure on new phase of RUSA

The proposal seeks to entail an expenditure of Rs 12,929.16 crore. Out of this, central share is Rs 8120.97 crores while state share is Rs 4808.19 crores. It will support around 1,600 projects under new phase of RUSA.

RUSA and New Education Policy

New phase of the scheme will also implement some of the recommendations and aims of New Education Policy, that suggests some key changes to current higher education system in order to revamp & re-energize it and deliver quality higher education to all.

New Model Degree Colleges

Under the new phase, States will also be supported to create new model degree colleges. State universities will be extended support for multi-disciplinary education and research. Accredited and non-accredited universities will also get grants to undertake various activities like teaching-learning in Indian languages.