Uttar Pradesh has a long tradition of education, although historically it was primarily confined to the elite class and religious schools. Sanskrit-based learning formed the major part of education from the Vedic to the Gupta periods. As cultures travelled through the region they brought their bodies of knowledge with them, adding Pali, Persian and Arabic scholarship to the community. These formed the core of Hindu-Buddhist-Muslim education until the rise of British colonialism. The present schools-to-university system of education owes its inception and development in the state (as in the rest of the country) to foreign Christian missionaries and the British colonial administration.

Uttar Pradesh has more than 45 universities, including 5 central universities, 28 state universities, 8 deemed universities, 2 IITs in Varanasi and Kanpur, 1 IIM in Lucknow, 1 NIT in Allahabad, 2 IIITs, 1 National Law University in Lucknow and several polytechnics, engineering colleges and industrial training institutes. Prestigious institutes like the Aligarh Muslim University, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur), Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), the Indian Institute of Management (Lucknow), Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (Allahabad), Indian Institute of Information Technology (Allahabad), Indian Institute of Information Technology (Lucknow), University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Kanpur, King George's Medical University, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University and the Harcourt Butler Technical University are known worldwide for their quality education and research in their respective fields. The presence of such institutions provides the students of the state with ample opportunities for higher education.

Suggestions for Higher Education:

1.>The National Policy on Education (NPE) that was adopted by Parliament in May 1986 and Programme of Action (POA), 1986, and updated in 1992. Last review done in 1965 by Kothari Commission. Like in west regular review of education policy including higher education. For example UK has an institute for education statistics, as policy making with reliable data on a regular basis to assist policymaking.

2.>Emphasis should be on better teachers with quality training modules for them. Given the low rate of enrolment, we need more quality teaching institutions at the undergraduate level.

3.>Massive expansion of government universities and colleges providing quality education at low cost is the need of time. Expansion of self-financing private institutions be restricted to a reasonable level or compensate low income strata students with scholarship to enable them to study in private colleges. The present method, of extending educational loans from banks with interest subsidy by the MHRD, does not help the poor. Else, education rather than being a socio-economic leveler will become a source of disparity.

4.>Infrastructure can be improved with an increase in financial allocation. Academic reforms should be after deliberations with all the stake holders and consistent to avoid unnecessary controversies like FYUP or CBCS. In the case of faculty, enforce the University Grant Commission’s (UGC) teacher-student ratio for each State, and ensure that the financial requirement of additional faculty is shared by the Centre and States.

5.>English textbooks of concerned subjects should be translated to the hindi/regional languages. The threelanguage formula needs to be adhered to. Teaching in the regional languages would make understanding relatively easy while minimal language competence in English should facilitate student access to English books. This method has been successful in Japan.

6.>Allow foreign educational institutions to enter into collaborations with Indian institutions on a large scale.

7.>Use of Massive Online Open Courses be encouraged.

8.>Autonomy as far as academic and administrative aspects are involved is a must. It includes the appointment of heads of institutional and executive bodies. A UGC committee had suggested the independence of institutions from the government as the bottom line for autonomy.

9.>Efficient use of skill development program of the government and improving the apprenticeship scheme.

10.>Identifying and empowering 50 top universities in every possible manner to seek global excellence as done by Russia.

11.>Increasing funding, including corporate funding for Indian universities.

12.>Incentivising research and publications among faculty members.

13.>In Korea, the best students enter the teaching profession because the social status of a teacher is very high. We need such a system in India.

The above steps can help to propel the higher education in states thus boosting overall growth of the state.