Higher Education Financing Agency to be created by the Government

The government on Monday announced that it would be creating a Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) with an initial capital base of Rs 1000 crore that will leverage funds from the market. The agency would work to create top infrastructure in India’s top institutions such as the IITs.

The finance minister Arun Jaitley while delivering the budget speech in the parliament said that a regulatory architecture would be created for ten public and ten private institutions to help them become the world class institutions in teaching and research domains.

The finance minister also announced that a digital depository for academic certificates would be established and also 62 Navodaya Vidyalayas would be opened. He stated that after the universalisation of the primary education in the country the next big step forward would be to focus on the quality of the education. Under Sarva Shikhsa Abhiyan an increasing share would be allocated for this.

He re-emphasised the government’s commitment to empower higher educational institutions and help them become world class centres for teaching and research.

He said,” An enabling regulatory architecture will be provided to 10 public and 10 private institutions to emerge as world class Teaching and Research Institutions. This will enhance affordable access to high quality education for ordinary Indians. A detailed scheme would be formulated.”

He also announced the government’s decision to set up a Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) with Rs 1000 crore as initial capital base. He said,” The HEFA will be a not-for profit organisation that will leverage funds from the market and supplement them with donations and CSR funds. These funds will be used to finance improvement in infrastructure in our top institutions and will be serviced through internal accruals."

In his speech he also announced a proposal to establish a digital depository for school leaving certificates, college degrees, academic awards and mark sheets, on the pattern of a Securities Depository. According to Jaitley,” This will help validate their authenticity, safe storage and easy retrieval.”