The cash-strapped Andhra University can now heave a sigh of relief as the University Grants Commission (UGC) has sanctioned ₹100 crores under Rashtriya Ucchatar Siksha Abhiyan (RUSA) 2.0 programme.
The first instalment of ₹25 crore of ₹100 crore has already been released to the State government and the State will add up a matching grant of ₹16 crore and a total of ₹41 crore will be released in a couple of days.
Special Purpose Vehicle
All the grants sanctioned under RUSA shall be utilised through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) created for this purpose. Andhra University has already registered the SPV as ‘Andhra University Forum on RUSA Initiative for Scientific Excellence (AU RISE)’. The ₹41 crore to be released by the State government will be deposited in the account of AU RISE.
Once this amount is spent by March 2020, and the Utilisation Certificate is submitted, the next instalment will be released by the Government of India, said Vice-Chancellor G. Nageswara Rao.
This was finalised in a meeting of Vice-Chancellors of 10 State universities approved under Component- 4 and attended by RUSA coordinators, Principal Secretaries of Higher Education of respective State governments and State Project Directors, RUSA, held at RUSA New Delhi on Thursday.
The V-C said that if the amount of ₹100 crore is spent by March 2020, the Union government will release more grant to a tune of ₹250 crore for the financial year 2020-21. “Thus, Andhra University will get to the tune of ₹1,000 crore, in the next five years,” he said.
For the RUSA funds, 10 State universities have been selected and have been recognised as ‘Institutions of Eminence’.
The idea is to make all the 10 selected universities as world-class universities in the next 10 years.
To utilise the RUSA grants, apart from setting up the AU RISE, AU has already signed an MoU with the Purdue University, USA.
As per the norms, 85 % of the RUSA grants shall be utilised for development of infrastructure, research and faculty improvement and balance 15% for entrepreneurship, innovation and employability.
Global MBA programmes
Giving details on the proposed spending of the RUSA grants, Prof. Nageswara Rao said that the global MBA programmes will be started from the academic year 2019-20 and collaboration with national institutions like IITs, Central universities for exchange of Ph.D. and PDFs, and faculty, will be taken up.
“A total of 100 Post Doctoral Fellows and 200-300 Ph.D. students will be admitted at a fellowship of ₹1.0 lakh for PDFs and ₹50,000 to ₹75,000 for JRF/SRFs with focus on quality. A notification will be issued inviting applications from the eligible incumbents. Minor Research Projects to faculty members with a cap of ₹10 to ₹20 lakh, will also be taken up. The funds will also be utilised to support and organise seminars and symposia,” said Prof. Nageswara Rao.
Prof. Venkatesh Kumar, RUSA Coordinator, New Delhi, Ms. Ishita Roy, Joint Secretary, MHRD, Govt. of India, were present.