Higher Education is of paramount to the country as it is a tool to develop a knowledge based society in 21st Century. Higher education institutions must ensure the maximum usage of human resources and infrastructure and inject the quality inputs and feedback in the system to improve its efficacy, viability and relevance in current era of globalization.
The State Council for Higher Education has been constituted, the work of preparing the State Higher Education Plan (S.H.E.P.) has been entrusted to the Directorate of Higher and Technical Education, Meghalaya, Shillong and will be approved by the S.H.E.C.. The Directorate of Higher and Technical Education, Meghalaya, Shillong have informed all the Government and Government aided Institutions of the state about the implementation of the RUSA Scheme in Meghalaya.
Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) in the State has a vision to develop and maintain the universities and colleges as a centre of excellence in teaching and research and achieve a higher Gross Enrolment Ratio of 30 % by the end of 13th Plan. Meghalaya has always been established as the hub for education and higher educational facilities that are exemplary but can be much more improved.
The programme has identified 11 priority Areas that need developmental and expansion work. They are as follows:
East Khasi Hills: There are altogether: 1 Government College, 19 Government aided Higher Educational Institutions, 13 Private Institutions, 5 Central Government Colleges/ Universities, 5 Private Universities and 1 Government Polytechnic.
West Khasi Hills: There are only 3 Colleges in the district.
South West Khasi Hills: There is only one Private College in the District.
West Garo Hills: There are altogether 2 Government Colleges, 3 Government aided Higher Educational Institutions, 6 Private Institutions, 1 Private University and 1 Government Polytechnic.
East Garo Hills: There is 1 Government College and two private colleges in the district.
West Jaintia Hills: There is 1 Government College, 2 Government aided Colleges and 1 Government Polytechnic.
East Jaintia Hills: There are only 2 Colleges out of which one is Government aided and the other is a Private College.
Ri Bhoi District: There are only 3 Colleges out of which one is Government aided and the other two are Private Colleges and 1 Private University.
South Garo Hills: The only college in the district is a Government College.
South West Garo Hills: There is only Private College in the district.
North Garo Hills: There is only Private College in the district.
The priorities of the state are Infrastructure Development, Quality Assurance, Access and Equity, and Capacity Building in Students. The main Constraints are: Lack of Infrastructural development due to lack of funds, Accreditation amongst the Colleges is lowest in the state, High Teacher-student ratio adversely affect quality teaching in the institutions of higher education.
State has given consent to participate in RUSA, with 90% Central assistance and 10 % State Share. We are sure that the assistance under RUSA will enable the state increasing the Gross Enrolment Ratio [G.E.R.], access, equity in higher education, relevance and quality, and to build a higher education system that not only produce bright graduates for export but can also support sophisticated research in a number of scientific and scholarly fields by the end of 13th plan.