Budget 2025-26, recently tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, spotlights substantial budgetary increases in higher education outlays. With enhanced expenditures under heads such as student financial aid, Digital India e-learning, Centres of Excellence (CoE) in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and a variety of premier central institutions such as the Indian Institutions of Technology (IITs), the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISERs), the budget has prioritised inclusion, autonomy and growth for high-performing institutional models.
With the 2020 National Education Policy&rsquo;s ambitious goal of a 50% gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education (defined as the number of students enrolled in higher education out of the total population of 18- 23 years) by 2035, how does the budget help visualise the realisation of the policy objective? According to news reports, a nearly 5% increase in GER was reported from 2014-15 to 2020-21, according to the 2024-25 Economic Survey.&nbsp;
Yet, a key ingredient for meeting these goals lies in a robust cadre of higher education teachers who can demonstrate the interdisciplinarity and cross-disciplinary agility promoted by the National Education Policy 2020. This is the context in which India&rsquo;s ongoing and severe teaching faculty shortages demand fresh thinking and urgent action. A Council of Sustainable Development study estimated that meeting the 2035 GER target requires 3.3 million higher education faculty (with a student: teacher ratio of 15:1), a nearly 2.5-fold increase over the existing cadre of teaching faculty. Where will these new teachers come from?
Over the years, budgetary allocations have indicated efforts to bolster a number of programmes to fill the nearly 38% demand-supply gap in high-quality teaching faculty. &nbsp;These include the National Research Professors scheme, the Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching, now Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Programme (MMTTP), the PM Research Fellowship and the Global Initiative for Academic Network (GIAN), among many others. While budget outlays for 2025-26 suggest a renewed emphasis on high-profile centrally-funded institutions of excellence to lead the way, the fact remains that India&rsquo;s top centrally funded institutions are subject to the same shortages of teaching faculty. These shortfalls are the tune of a third or more of all open positions at the 45 central universities, according to MHRD 2022 data and similar proportions at the IITs and IIMs.&nbsp;
<h2>Interestingly, the gaps are far larger, not at entry level but at Associate Professor and Professorial positions (60% of vacancies) in central universities, according to MHRD 2022 data.&nbsp;</h2>
The solution? India needs more significant investment in data-driven initiatives that leverage existing databases, such as the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE), with newer sources of data from private universities to better match candidates with positions. The proposed National Education Service suggests one such framework. However, open-source job banks would benefit from integration with the Higher Education Statistics &amp; Public Information System (HESPIS) Scheme to help both hiring institutions and qualified candidates find each other. In the long term, with a decentralised, private-led education system, India needs a strengthened knowledge infrastructure in higher education, much like the United States. The US Department of Higher Education maintains, for example, the ERIC - Education Resources Information Center as a clearinghouse for best practices and the National Center for Education Statistics, which provides the data private and public universities need. &nbsp;Together, the knowledge infrastructure supports a vibrant field of institutional research that supports improved decision-making in higher education.
The institutional innovations of NEP 2020 lie at the heart of the 2025-26 budget provisions. Channelling these monies to meet the looming challenges in India&rsquo;s diverse and complex higher education system remains key.&nbsp;

Business & Economy, data suggests that severe supply bottlenecks in the number and quality of teachers at postsecondary institutions hinder the nation’s goals

Budget 2025-26, recently tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, spotlights substantial budgetary increases in higher education outlays. With enhanced expenditures under heads such as student financial aid, Digital India e-learning, Centres of Excellence (CoE) in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and a variety of premier central institutions such as the Indian Institutions of Technology (IITs), the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISERs), the budget has prioritised inclusion, autonomy and growth for high-performing institutional models. With the 2020 National Education Policy’s ambitious goal of a 50% gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education (defined as the number of students enrolled in higher education out of the total population of 18- 23 years) by 2035, how does the budget help visualise the realisation of the policy objective? According to news reports, a nearly 5% increase in GER was reported from 2014-15 to 2020-21, according to the 2024-25 Economic Survey. Yet, a key ingredient for meeting these goals lies in a robust cadre of higher education teachers who can demonstrate the interdisciplinarity and cross-disciplinary agility promoted by the National Education Policy 2020. This is the context in which India’s ongoing and severe teaching faculty shortages demand fresh thinking and urgent action. A Council of Sustainable Development study estimated that meeting the 2035 GER target requires 3.3 million higher education faculty (with a student: teacher ratio of 15:1), a nearly 2.5-fold increase over the existing cadre of teaching faculty. Where will these new teachers come from? Over the years, budgetary allocations have indicated efforts to bolster a number of programmes to fill the nearly 38% demand-supply gap in high-quality teaching faculty. These include the National Research Professors scheme, the Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching, now Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Programme (MMTTP), the PM Research Fellowship and the Global Initiative for Academic Network (GIAN), among many others. While budget outlays for 2025-26 suggest a renewed emphasis on high-profile centrally-funded institutions of excellence to lead the way, the fact remains that India’s top centrally funded institutions are subject to the same shortages of teaching faculty. These shortfalls are the tune of a third or more of all open positions at the 45 central universities, according to MHRD 2022 data and similar proportions at the IITs and IIMs. Interestingly, the gaps are far larger, not at entry level but at Associate Professor and Professorial positions (60% of vacancies) in central universities, according to MHRD 2022 data. The solution? India needs more significant investment in data-driven initiatives that leverage existing databases, such as the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE), with newer sources of data from private universities to better match candidates with positions. The proposed National Education Service suggests one such framework. However, open-source job banks would benefit from integration with the Higher Education Statistics & Public Information System (HESPIS) Scheme to help both hiring institutions and qualified candidates find each other. In the long term, with a decentralised, private-led education system, India needs a strengthened knowledge infrastructure in higher education, much like the United States. The US Department of Higher Education maintains, for example, the ERIC - Education Resources Information Center as a clearinghouse for best practices and the National Center for Education Statistics, which provides the data private and public universities need. Together, the knowledge infrastructure supports a vibrant field of institutional research that supports improved decision-making in higher education. The institutional innovations of NEP 2020 lie at the heart of the 2025-26 budget provisions. Channelling these monies to meet the looming challenges in India’s diverse and complex higher education system remains key.

Higher Education directions: Budgetary implications for 2025

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Zee News Rajasthan

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Ashima Sood

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