Responsibilities and Functions of the Executive Council

(1) The Executive Council shall have the following general responsibilities and functions, namely:- (a) It shall be responsible for planned and coordinated development of higher education in the State and also to foster sharing of resources between universities, benefit from synergy across institutions, lead academic and governance reforms at the institution level, establish principles for funding institutions, maintain a databank on higher education and conduct research and evaluation studies: (b) To render advice to the Government, Universities and other educational and research institutions on the matter higher education in the State; (c) To co-ordinate the roles of the Government, Universities and apex regulatory agencies in higher education within the State; (d) To evolve new concepts and programmes in higher education; (2) For the furtherance of the above responsibilities and functions, the Council shall specifically undertake the following, namely:- (a) provide academic input to the Government and to the Universities, research institutions and other centers of higher education in the State for the formulation and implementation of the policies on higher education and evolve a perspective plan for the development of higher education, suo moto or on the suggestion from Government or request from Universities or other institutions; (b) undertake independent research for the generation of new ideas for the promotion of social justice and academic excellence in higher education, hold awareness programmes for the academia and initiate or propose or pilot projects on an experimental basis in selected higher education institutions for implementation of the new ideas; (d) evolve guidelines for linkages of an academic nature among higher education institutions in the State and institutions within and outside the country; (e) evolve programmes in order to promote the relevance of higher education for the economic, social and cultural development of the State; (f) review existing guidelines and furnish recommendation for regulating admissions to various courses and for appointments to the posts of teachers and teacher-administrators in Universities, colleges and other institutions of higher education; (g) suggest improvements in curriculum and syllabi in accordance with the changing societal and academic requirements and facilitate the development and publication of appropriate teaching material, including text books, educational software and elearning facilities in order to improve the quality of education; (h) facilitate short term courses to train and update the knowledge and skills of higher education teaching personnel, education administrators and other similarly situated; (i) advise the Government on the starting of new courses, colleges, and other higher education institutions in the State; (j) make proposals for the generation and utilization of funds in accordance with the objectives of this Act; (k) evolve general guidelines for the release of grants by the Government to Universities and other institutions of higher education and advice the Government about the release of such grants to Universities and other institutions of higher education; (l) evolve schemes for providing equitable opportunities for higher education and scholarships and free-ships and financial assistance to the needy student and co-ordinate implementation of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes and Other Eligible Backward Classes welfare programmes of the Central and the State Government and other Central and State Level funding Agencies; (m) review periodically the Statutes, Ordinances and Regulations of the Universities in the State and suggest appropriate improvements for the realization of the objectives of social justice and academic excellence in education and suggest the framework for new Statutes, Ordinances, or Regulations for existing Universities or other institutions of higher education or new Universities or other institutions of higher education; (n) provide common facilities for the entire State by establishing centers, namely:- (i) Centre for Research on Policies in Higher Education; (ii) Curriculum Development Centre; (iii) Centre for Capacity Building in respect of faculty and educational administrators; (iv) State Council for Assessment of Higher Education Institutions; (v) Examination Reforms Cell; (vi) Center for Human Resource Development; (o) organize consultation, workshops and seminars with experts and stakeholders, including organizations of students and teachers to formulate policies on higher education for proper implementation; (p) facilitate the development of a synergic relationship among different agencies such as the State Government, Universities, colleges and other regulatory bodies at the national level; (q) promote various programmes being promoted and undertaken by Central and State Governments and national level bodies like University Grants Commission, All India Council for Technical Education, National Council for Teachers Education, Medical Council of India, Bar Council of India and other similar statutory bodies and state level institutions of higher education in the territory of India; (r) provide forum for the interaction among the academy, industries, agriculture and service sectors; (t) undertake necessary steps for establishing inter-linkages between research and learning processes; (u) promote extension activities in colleges, institutions and Universities and encourage their integration into the curriculum so that the students and teachers become sensitive to social issues; (v) promote sports and cultural activities in the colleges, other institutions and Universities and integrate them with the cocurricular activities; (x) suggest steps for promoting democratization and academic autonomy of Universities and other institutions of higher education; (y) evolve schemes to sensitize the students to environmental and gender issues.