The Association of Indian Universities (AIU) asserts that there is the urgent need to revisit the three-decade old higher education policy, considering the changes happening in the sector over the period.

When the policy was formulated in 1986, there was no Information Technology, the Internet, computers and smart classes. With all these facilities now at the finger tip, the policy needed an immediate revamp, AIU Secretary General Prof Furqan Qamar told mediapersons here.

It should not be a change for the sake of one, but a thorough reconstruction of the present policy so that students across the country were benefited, he said Similarly, there was the need to consider education as a priority sector and allocate more funds for infrastructure and development of facilities, in colleges and universities.

The Kothari Commission, way back in 1968, suggested allocation of 6 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product to the education sector – one-third each to primary, secondary and higher education. Qamar said the government was allocating only 4 per cent, which was not adequate.

Here to participate in a seminar `Internatinalisation of higher education’, organised at Avinashilingam University for Women, he said.

The number of universities and colleges at the time independence had gone up to 800 and 40,000 respectively from 20 and 500 and the student strength to 3.5 crore from as low as 1 lakh.

Considering this, the Government should come forward to allocate more funds for education to upgrade the quality and also increase the number of faculty in every discipline, he said.