How Indian States Manage Higher Education: Administration and Policies

India’s higher education system is one of the largest in the world, with over 1,100 universities and 43,000 colleges spread across a vast and diverse nation. While central bodies like the University Grants Commission (UGC) set the broad framework, it is the state governments that do the heavy lifting day-to-day – recruiting faculty, funding colleges, inspecting institutions, and adapting national policies to local realities. Understanding how this state-level machinery actually works helps explain both the strengths and the persistent gaps in Indian higher education.

The three-tier administrative structure at the state level 🔗

Every state in India manages its higher education through a layered administrative structure. At the top sits the Secretariat, followed by the Directorate of Higher Education, and at the ground level, the Inspectorate. Each body has a distinct role, and together they form the operational backbone of state education governance.

The Secretariat: where policy begins 🔗

The Secretariat is responsible for policy formulation, while Directorates serve as the executive arm that translates those policies into concrete actions and services for citizens. In the context of higher education, the Secretariat – typically headed by a Principal Secretary or Secretary of the Education Department – handles financial allocations for universities and colleges, coordinates with other ministries, and ensures that the state’s educational goals are reflected in its budget and legislation. The State Education Minister provides political oversight and is ultimately accountable to the legislature for educational outcomes.

In Rajasthan, for instance, the Department of Higher Education is administered at the Secretariat level by a Principal Secretary or Secretary, along with a Joint Secretary, while the Commissionerate of College Education – headed by an IAS-level Commissioner – handles operational coordination. This pattern of separating policy (Secretariat) from operations (Commissionerate or Directorate) is common across states.

The Directorate of Higher Education: from policy to practice 🔗

The Directorate of Higher Education is the primary implementing body. It monitors the progress of academic institutions, allocates resources, and oversees the development of new institutions or academic programs. In Maharashtra, the Directorate of Higher Education – formally established on 31 October 1984 – manages non-agricultural universities and their degree colleges across faculties such as Arts, Science, Commerce, Law, and Education. As the number of colleges grew, the state decentralized the Directorate’s work into 10 regional offices located in cities like Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Aurangabad, and Amravati to improve oversight at the regional level.

In some states, the Directorate also handles faculty recruitment, academic calendars, and funding for infrastructure development. Delhi’s Directorate of Higher Education, set up in 1997, independently manages college education and serves as the administrative department for Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University. This shows how the Directorate’s scope can vary significantly depending on the state’s size, needs, and governance philosophy.

The Inspectorate: quality oversight on the ground 🔗

The Inspectorate functions as the quality watchdog. Its role involves conducting inspections of colleges and universities to evaluate standards of teaching, infrastructure, faculty qualifications, and student performance. The findings from these inspections are crucial in determining whether institutions should receive continued funding or face corrective action for failing to meet required standards. In states with a large number of affiliated private colleges, the Inspectorate plays a particularly important role in preventing substandard institutions from operating unchecked.

Higher Education Commissions: a specialized layer of coordination 🔗

Beyond the Secretariat-Directorate-Inspectorate triad, many Indian states have established dedicated State Higher Education Councils (SHECs) to coordinate, plan, and advise on higher education at a broader level. The UGC issued guidelines to set up SHECs as far back as 1988, and today most major states have their own councils, including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal, and Bihar.

Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education (TANSCHE) 🔗

TANSCHE was established by an Act of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in 1992 for the promotion and coordination of higher education at the state level and for aligning state-level programs with those of the UGC. Its core function is to coordinate and determine standards across institutions for higher education, research, and scientific and technical institutions in accordance with UGC guidelines. TANSCHE advises the state government on curriculum development, resource allocation, and the establishment of new institutions, and works to foster collaboration between universities, research institutes, and industry.

Tamil Nadu’s Department of Higher Education, established in 1997 after bifurcating from a combined education and technology department, is responsible for formulating policies, laws, and programs for higher education across the state’s 56 universities and over 510 engineering colleges. TANSCHE acts as a policy advisory layer that feeds into this department’s decision-making.

Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) 🔗

APSCHE was established in 1988 under Act 16 as a statutory apex body that advises the Government of Andhra Pradesh on policy matters, planning, coordination, and regulation of higher education institutions. It holds the distinction of being the first such council of its kind in India, created in line with the recommendations of the National Education Policy 1986.

APSCHE’s mandate spans three distinct functions: planning and coordination, academic functions, and advisory functions. As the primary coordinating body between the UGC, the State Government, and universities, its general duty is to coordinate and determine standards in institutions of higher education, research, and scientific and technical institutions. In practice, this means APSCHE conducts centralized entrance examinations (such as AP EAPCET for engineering and pharmacy admissions), updates curriculum frameworks, provides teacher training, and coordinates quality assurance efforts including setting up Internal Quality Assurance Cells (IQACs) in institutions. APSCHE has also introduced a mandatory 10-month internship for students across professional and conventional degree programs and built an industry connect portal with over 9 lakh registered students, directly linking higher education with employability goals aligned with NEP 2020.

Coordination with central bodies: aligning state policies with national frameworks 🔗

Higher education in India is listed in the Concurrent List of the Constitution, meaning both the central and state governments share responsibility for it. This makes coordination between the two levels not just desirable but structurally necessary.

The Ministry of Education’s Department of Higher Education is responsible for the overall development of the higher education sector in terms of both policy and planning. It oversees expansion of access and qualitative improvement through universities, colleges, and institutions, and is empowered to grant deemed university status on the advice of the UGC. States must align their policies with UGC regulations to ensure that the academic programs they offer maintain nationally recognized standards.

The centrally sponsored Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) – now upgraded to PM-USHA (Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan), launched in 2023 with a total outlay of ₹12,926 crore – is one of the most significant mechanisms for this coordination. Grants are disbursed on a centre-state cost-sharing basis and are linked to academic, administrative, and governance reforms, compelling states to align their institutional practices with national benchmarks. The SHECs in each state are expected to carry out the planning and implementation responsibilities under PM-USHA/RUSA, covering functions of planning, monitoring and evaluation, quality assurance, advisory support, and funding.

The UGC coordinates between the centre and states, determining and maintaining standards of university education while disbursing funds and overseeing academic development. State governments that wish to receive UGC grants or NAAC accreditation support must demonstrate compliance with UGC norms – creating a direct financial incentive for state-central alignment.

Challenges in state education management 🔗

Despite the elaborate administrative architecture, state-level higher education management faces several significant challenges that affect millions of students.

Funding gaps and inadequate resource allocation 🔗

One of the most persistent problems is inadequate funding. Many states face a shortage of financial support, which affects their ability to improve infrastructure, recruit qualified faculty, and provide students with adequate learning resources. Upgrading infrastructure, providing faculty training, and offering diverse learning experiences all require adequate funding – and financial limitations directly hinder institutions’ ability to implement policy reforms effectively.

India’s R&D spending sits near 0.7% of GDP, and scaling investments must match the ambition of policies like NEP 2020, which targets a Gross Enrollment Ratio of 50% by 2035. In states like Bihar, Odisha, and in the northeastern region, the funding gap is most acute, limiting access and quality simultaneously.

Policy inconsistencies and governance overlaps 🔗

A structural challenge lies in the overlap of responsibilities between the Secretariat, Directorate, and Inspectorate, which can create confusion and slow down policy implementation. State Higher Education Councils face challenges including non-uniform governance structures, inadequate integration with regulatory bodies like the UGC, and a need for stronger coordination with state universities. Additionally, none of the SHECs fully meets good international practice regarding an “arms-length” relationship with state political leadership.

India’s higher education governance also faces challenges of excessive centralization, lack of autonomy, and bureaucratic inefficiencies. The overlapping mandates of regulatory bodies like UGC and AICTE, combined with limited institutional independence, stifle innovation and hinder effective decision-making. When central bodies and state bodies both try to regulate the same institutions with sometimes differing norms, universities are left navigating competing compliance demands.

Implementing national policies at the state level 🔗

The National Education Policy 2020 represents the most ambitious overhaul of Indian education in decades, but translating its goals into state-level action is deeply uneven. Implementing NEP 2020 requires collaboration between central and state governments, regulatory bodies, universities, and teachers – and streamlining communication while ensuring everyone works towards the same goals is a significant challenge. States with stronger administrative capacity and better-funded SHECs are advancing faster, while others are still working out the basics of curriculum restructuring and credit framework implementation.

The size and diversity of India’s education sector make a uniform implementation timeline unrealistic. The internal capacities within education ministries at both the central and state levels, along with other regulatory bodies, are often inadequate to steer the magnitude of transformations envisaged in the NEP. Faculty training, digital infrastructure, and multi-entry-exit credit frameworks require not just policy decisions but sustained on-ground execution – which is where many state administrations still struggle.

The road ahead for state-level administration 🔗

The shift from RUSA to PM-USHA in 2023 signals a recognition that higher education reform cannot be infrastructure-driven alone – it must be reform-driven, with NEP goals embedded at its core. For state administrations, this means moving beyond routine inspections and fund disbursements toward becoming genuine quality assurance and planning bodies. Strengthening SHECs, improving inter-departmental coordination, ensuring financial autonomy for universities, and building data-driven planning systems will be essential steps. The administrative foundation exists; the challenge is making it more agile, accountable, and capable of responding to a rapidly changing educational landscape.

What do you think? Given that education is a concurrent subject in India, should states be given more financial and administrative autonomy in managing their higher education systems without being tied to centrally mandated reform conditions? And as states like Andhra Pradesh experiment with mandatory internships and digital industry linkages, what can other states learn from these initiatives to close the employability gap in their own higher education systems?

References

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