HIGHER EDUCATION
The Higher Education Department in the state deals with higher education i.e., college education, technical education and universities. The objectives of the department are development of undergraduate and post graduate education, increasing access to higher education, encouraging private participation in the expansion of collegiate education, development of infrastructure in government colleges, and ensuring maintenance of high standards of education in colleges.
The Working Committee of the Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) organised a workshop on “Reforms in Higher Education for Innovation” on 7 November 2017 in the TSCHE committee hall. Chairman Prof T. Papi Reddy, Vice Chairmen Prof Limbadr and Prof Venkata Rmana, Vice Chancellors of state universities, Jayesh Ranjan, Pricipal Secretary, Dept of Education and Industries, representatives of NASSCOM, industries, research institutes and representatives of Microsoft and Google attended and participated in the deliberations.
It was decided to constitute three sub-committees on internships, incubators and syllabus reforms. These committees will have academicians, industry experts and other stakeholders as members. The incubation centres will come up in five universities.It was also proposed to give an opportunity to students to opt for a break year for internship/project work. It was also decided to establish 50 centres across the state to create awareness among students about various vacancies under the Central government.
The motto of TSCHE is “striving for quality, inclusive and skill oriented education”. It is the general duty of the Council to coordinate and determine standards in institutions of higher education, research, scientific and technical institutions in accordance with the guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission from time to time. Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Education Kadiam Srihari has announced that the Telangana government was planning to double the budget for higher education from Rs 420 crore this year to Rs 800 crore in the next year’s budget.
He also assured that 1,060 vacancies in 11 universities in Telangana for teaching and non-teaching staff would be filled this year itself and another 500 would be filled next year.
SOFTNET
Society for Telangana State Network (SoFTNET) is an initiative from the Department of Information Technology, Electronics and Communications of the Telangana government to provide quality education harnessing the potential of satellite communications and Information Technology. The initiative aims to provide quality education and training to identify groups who aim at achieving the last mile connectivity by utilising the potential of satellite communications and Information Technology. SoFTNET uses GSAT 8 satellite and telecasts four channels: T-SAT NIPUNA and T-SAT VIDYA cater to the distance learning, Agriculture Extension, Rural Development, Tele-Medicine and E-Governance requirements of the people of Telangana. SoFTNET has entered into a fresh MoU with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) that came into effect from 28 September 2016. Apart from the launch of TS-Class programmes, it has also started coaching classes for TSPSC Group II Services aspirants. SoFTNET has also promoted digital and cashless payments through awareness videos. The mission of SoFTNET is to “Educate, Enlighten and Empower” the people of Telangana using audio-visual technology and take the best of the education and training facilities to the stakeholders. SoFTNET channels focus on various educational and training resources and enables quality faculty reach out to the last mile institutions.
TASK
Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) addresses the problems of unemployment in Telangana. The aim of TASK is to provide enough number of readily employable graduates in Telangana by improving their skills and knowledge. This initiative bridges the gap between the industry expectations and the available skill sets.
A unique skill development initiative from the IT, E&C Department, TASK aims at improving the quality of graduates coming out of colleges by imparting industry-grade skill sets. Over 800 colleges have registered with TASK and over one lakh youth from across Telangana have been skilled since TASK’s inception in June 2015. TASK has also bagged the prestigious SKOCH Platinum award for Revamping Skilling Initiatives for youth in Telangana.