Department

HIGHER EDUCATION IN UTTARAKHAND: GENESIS AND DEVELOPMENT

The people of Uttarakhand, since inception, have got an inclination towards higher education. This gets substantiated by the fact that after attaining higher education from various universities and higher education institutes of the country, they made valuable contributions at nation level in the various domains of politics, bureaucracy, army, science and technology, mass communication, research, etc. This gets very well reflected in the dignified positions held across various spheres and the contributions made by the people of Uttarakhand. In the domain of higher education in state, important avenues like general education, technical education, agricultural education, professional education, colleges and universities were established in the post –independence era but the actual dissemination and spread of higher education started in the decade of seventies with the establishment of colleges, at large scale, in remote and rural regions so as to ensure the availability of higher education to economically weaker sections and also to cater to tough geographical terrains with the aim of making higher education accessible for general public. Prior to the formation of state, there was great paucity of basic facilities and amenities in the colleges and as such the higher education in the state was incapable of meeting the challenges posed either at the national level or the international level. After formation of the state, government ensured a continuous increase in the budget for spreading and enhancing the quality of higher education and also worked towards usage of information and communication technologies in higher education of the state.
PROGRESS MADE: Progress and development made in the sphere of higher education in Uttarakhand can be categorized in the following three parts:

Preliminary Development Phase (Prior to 1970)

Establishment of D.A.V. College, Dehradun in 1946
Establishment of Roorkie Engineering College in 1949
D.S.B. College, Nainital established in the form of state’s first Government College in 1951
Establishment of Almora College, Almora in 1954
Establishment of M.K.P. College, Dehradun in 1958
Establishment of Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar in 1960
Establishment of Motiram Baburam College, Haldwani in1960
Establishment of Government Birla College, Srinagar Garhwal in 1962
Establishment of L.M.S. Government Post- Graduate College, Pithoragarh in 1963
Establishment of Government College, Gopeshwar in 1966
Establishment of Government College, Uttarkashi in 1969

Extension and Development Status (Prior to the formation of State)

Fifteen colleges were established in the decade of 1970, five colleges were established in the decade of 1980 whereas nine government colleges were established in the decade of 1990 while three colleges were established in after the provincialization of three aided colleges from Haldwani, Almora and Kashipur making a total tally of thirty four.
Establishment of the office of joint director (higher education) at haldwani in 1996
Establishment of Kumaun University, H.N.B. Garhwal University and Gurukul Kangri University
Establishment of FRI, Dehradun

Rapid Extension, Development and Quality Assurance Status (After the State Formation)

Establishment of the Directorate of Higher Education at Haldwani in 2001 for promotion, modernization, development and strengthening of higher education in Uttarakhand
Establishment of Regional Directorate (Higher Education) at Dehradun in 2001 to facilitate a better coordination and effective control upon the aided colleges at the government level
Establishment of three model colleges and one professional college in 2018-19
Incorporation of Swami Vivekananda College of Education, Matlabpur,Roorkie in the Grants list in 2002
Completion of the process of making Government Post Graduate College Bageshwar and Pithoragarh as the University campus of Soban Singh Jeena University, Almora in 2022
About 119 government colleges as well as 21 aided colleges were functional up to the year2023
Two new colleges namely Government Degree College Bahadurpur Jatt (Haridwar) and Government Degree College Lostu Badyar (Tehri Garhwal) were created in the year 2023
Completion of the process of making Government Post Graduate College, Champawat as the University campus of Soban Singh Jeena University, Almora in 2023
118 government colleges as well as 21 aided colleges were functional up to the year 2024