Union Budget 2022-23: The center has allocated Rs 40,828 crore to the Education Ministry’s Higher Education Department for the next financial year, which is an increase of 6.6 percent over the current financial year.
In FY 2021-22, the budget for the Higher education department was Rs 38,350.65 crore and it further dropped to Rs 36,031.57 in the revised estimates.
School education outlay for 2022-23 is at Rs 63,449.37 crore, nearly Rs 9,000 crore more than 2021-22.
Overall, the Education department has been allocated Rs 1,04,277.72 crore (Rs 1.04 lakh crore).
Allocations for central universities, Indian Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), and other centrally-funded institutions have increased significantly. University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) budgets have been increased.
The budget for the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a centrally funded scheme that supports state-run higher education institutions, has been reduced to Rs 2,042.95 for the forthcoming fiscal year, compared to Rs 3,000 allocated for the current year. However, as per the revised estimates of 2021-22, RUSA has got only Rs 793.26 crore.
Another project that saw a major budget cut is the Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA). For the next financial year, it will get Rs 1 Lakh.
In 2021-22, HEFA was allocated Rs 1 crore but the revised estimates show it got only Rs 1 lakh.
The agency was formed five years ago with an aim to grant infrastructure loans to institutions. Its budget was cut by 99 percent last year, from Rs 2,000 in the previous fiscal to just Rs 1 crore.
Here are the budget allocations for some major schemes, projects, bodies, and institutions:
Higher Education Budget: 2022-23 Vs 2021-22
| Schemes, Projects, Bodies, Institutes | Budget allocation in FY 2022-23 (In Rs, Crore) | Budget allocation in FY 2021-22 (In Rs, Crore) |
| Establishment Expenditure of the Centre | 273.38 | 247.44 |
| World-Class Institutions (Institutions of Eminence) | 1,700 | 1,710 |
| Student Financial Aid (Scholarships, fellowships, etc) | 2,077.85 | 2,482.32 |
| Digital India-e-learning | 421.01 | 645.61 |
| Research and Innovation | 218.66 | 237.40 |
| University Grants Commission (UGC) | 4,900.91 | 4,693.20 |
| All India Council for Technical Education(AICTE) | 420 | 416 |
| Grants to Central Universities | 9,420 | 7,643.26 |
| Deemed Universities promoted by Central Government | 393.25 | 351.00 |
| Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) | 8,195 | 7,536.02 |
| Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) | 653.92 | 476 |
| National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and IIEST | 4,364 | 3,935 |
| Indian Institutes of Science, Education, and Research (IISER) | 1,379.53 | 946 |
| Indian Institute of Science (IISc) | 727.25 | 621.65 |
| Indian Institutes of Information Technology(IIITs) | 542.52 | 393.35 |
| Rashtriya Uchhatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) | 2042.95 | 3,000 |
Total for 2022-23:Rs 40,828.35 crore
Total for 2021-22: Rs 38,350.65 crore
