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The massive reforms in higher education are on the cards in Andhra Pradesh with plans to introduce grading for universities, promote innovation, improve teaching quality and establish several new universities that would be in sync with requirements of the industry. It in tune with the vision of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is keen to develop Andhra Pradesh into Knowledge State and education hub. The vision document on Knowledge Mission containing new initiatives on higher education and skill development would be released by Mr. Naidu on March 18 at Vijayawada.

The sources said the government planned to revamp the existing education system into a new model with focus on quality, accountability and academic deliverance. As part of the plans, a State Assessment and Accreditation Council would be established to grade institutions/ universities based on performance indices. A separate authority would also to be created to curb commercialization of education and regulate academic environment. The aim was to reap the demographic dividend and develop world class education system, research and innovation by providing the right ambience for academic institutions.

Setting up an ‘Education City’ modelled on the one in Haryana on a 500-acre site in Andhra Pradesh, introducing ‘Smart Campuses’, promoting collaboration with foreign universities, inviting Indian diaspora as guest faculty, developing academia-industry linkage at micro-level, promoting Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) to overcome faculty shortage are among the other initiatives.

The source said ‘cafeteria approach’ would be adopted to encourage trans-disciplinary and innovative research. Under which, the students would be allowed to opt for electives from other subjects. For instance, a liberal arts student could prefer an elective in science or engineering while an engineering student could opt for a science or arts paper. On skill development, the government plans to rope in companies under CSR initiatives to provide apprenticeship and training to students.

Besides, the 11 universities/ national institutions sanctioned under the AP Reorganisation Act, the government has sent proposals to the tune of Rs.1747 crore to the Centre for setting up more universities and upgrading existing facilities under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiskha Abhiyan (RUSA).

Maritime University, Open University, Telugu University, Skill University, Urdu University and Mining University are among the new proposals.