This report is presented by the High Power Committee constituted by the Chairman of AICTE after prolonged deliberations and a review of the recommendations of the task force set up in 1991 under the chairmanship of Dr. C.S. Jha. The present report has evolved policies and made recommendations thereon for financing technical education under the constraints introduced by the emerging industrial and financial scenario in the country.

This report examines the three tier technical education system in India consisting of Certificate, Diploma and Degree levels and also the Masters and Research Programmes; analyses the R & D expenditure by government and industrial sectors for the past decade; and shows that Such expenditure is far less in proportion than those in developed economies.

There is urgent need for institutions and Governments to make long term resource planning for the development of technical education. Plan outlays for the technical education sector have to be related to outlays in the industrial sector. To ensure a steady availability of funds for development of technical education, the Central Government should set up an Educational Development Bank of India (EDBI). Neverthless, it is necessary to reconcile to the inevitability of diminishing governmental support. Hence the need to improve self reliance is underscored.

The three major imperatives to improve self reliance are economy in expenditure, increasing cost-effectiveness of institutions and mobilising resources. Economy in expenditure could be achieved by "trimming the extra fat" wherever possible, by resorting to modern technology in management, sharing of facilities and the like. Improving cost effectiveness involves optimisation of student intakes, rationalisation of staff structure and utilising the services of PG students for instructional work. Resources can be generated by rationalisation of fee structures, attracting foreign students. enhancing consultancy work and sponsored research and offering revenue generating courses for the industry. A Corpus Fund is to be established in every institution and built up to act as a steady internal source of revenue as return on investments. Necessary tax concessions to the donors would provide some encouragement in builiding up such a fund.

Increase in the cost of technical education consequent on enhancement of fees raises the fundamental question of social equity. To ensure that the new system does not make technical education inaccessable to the financially weak, a National Loan Scholarship Scheme is to be established under the aegies of EDBI and soft loans disbursed to needy students, without bureaucratic delays and hassles. This effort is to be supplemented by State Educational Funds (SEF) at the State level.

Detailed recommendations on specific actions to be implemented by Government of India, State Government, AICTE, industries and the institutions are separately listed at the end of the report.