SRINAGAR: India has seen a sharp improvement in its global higher-education rankings following the rollout of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the Ministry of Education has told Parliament.
Responding to a starred question from Dr Gumma Thanuja Rani and M K Raghavan in the Lok Sabha, Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan said the policy’s reforms had helped push 54 Indian institutions into the QS World University Rankings 2026, up from just 11 in 2015. The QS Subject Rankings 2025 also featured 79 Indian institutions, an increase of 14 per cent from the previous year.
Pradhan said the rise in global visibility was taking place alongside the largest structural overhaul in India’s education sector in decades, as the government and States jointly worked to implement NEP 2020 across school and higher education.
He informed the House that the school system had already shifted from the old 10+2 structure to the 5+3+3+4 model and that curriculum reforms under the National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational and School stages had been rolled out. New textbooks for Classes I to VIII, aligned to the framework, have been released. Flagship initiatives such as Samagra Shiksha, NIPUN Bharat, the Vidya Pravesh early-learning module, the revamped PM POSHAN scheme, and digital platforms like PM e-VIDYA and DIKSHA were now central to the reform agenda.
The minister also highlighted national assessment reforms, including the creation of PARAKH and the launch of the first PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan in December 2024 to evaluate learning levels across Grades 3, 6 and 9. Teacher-training programmes such as NISHTHA, the introduction of National Professional Standards for Teachers, and the National Mission for Mentoring were described as key pillars of quality improvement.
In higher education, Pradhan said the introduction of the National Credit Framework, the National Higher Education Qualification Framework, and the APAAR ID had standardised mobility and academic records for millions of students. Over 2600 universities and institutions have been onboarded on the Academic Bank of Credits, with more than 4.5 crore students already registered. Online and distance-learning reforms now allow 126 institutions to offer 802 online programmes and 1699 ODL programmes.
The minister reported significant expansion in digital and multilingual access. SWAYAM now supports up to 40 per cent credit accumulation, has more than five crore cumulative enrolments and sees nearly ten lakh certifications annually. Entrance exams like the CUET, JEE (Mains) and NEET (UG) are now held in 13 languages. Forty-one institutions across ten States offer engineering courses in twelve regional languages.
Among the most visible reforms, Pradhan said, was the opening of Indian and foreign university campuses across borders—University of Southampton in Gurugram and Deakin University and the University of Wollongong in GIFT City, alongside IIT Delhi’s Abu Dhabi campus and IIT Madras in Tanzania. Thirteen Letters of Intent have been issued to foreign universities to establish campuses in India.
He also pointed to major investments in research and emerging technologies. The Anusandhan National Research Foundation aims to mobilise Rs 50,000 crore over five years, while Centres of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence have been sanctioned at IISc Bengaluru, IIT Ropar and IIT Kanpur. A new Centre of Excellence in Education has been announced with an outlay of Rs 500 crore.
Responding to questions on the hurdles faced in rural areas and concerns from some States, the minister said that although education is on the Concurrent List, NEP 2020 does not dilute State powers. The policy, he said, relies on “careful planning, joint monitoring, and collaborative implementation” between the Centre and the States.
While the question raised concerns about apprehensions over autonomy and allegations of increased Central interference, Pradhan did not specify the States opposing the policy. He reiterated instead that NEP 2020 encourages cooperation and that there is no punitive provision for States choosing not to implement specific components. The government is continuing consultations with stakeholders to address concerns.
The response did not directly clarify whether Kerala, which has publicly expressed reservations over NEP 2020, has agreed to adopt the policy, but emphasised that Central schemes and frameworks are being aligned nationwide while allowing States flexibility in implementation.
The minister’s reply underlined that despite challenges—particularly in digital access, teacher capacity, and infrastructure gaps in rural regions—the government considers NEP 2020 a transformative process that is progressing steadily across the country.
