If the ideas of the universities had been selected, they would have got a `100 crore grant that the UGC had announced. Imagine universities failing to come up with innovative ideas. Well, this is the kind of idea deficit the majority of the universities in Andhra Pradesh are grappling with. That’s something the University Grants Commission discovered recently.

The UGC had invited proposals relating to novel ideas from universities across the country earlier this year. The proposal had been invited under a scheme called ‘Innovation University’. Sadly, barring four universities, the rest failed to measure up to the UGC standards. The ideas they submitted were rejected at the proposal stage itself. Besides, it was a huge loss for these universities. For, had their ideas been selected, the universities would have got a `100-crore grant that the UGC had announced. The grant was to be provided for innovative educational programmes and organisational innovations during the 12th Five Year Plan.

The state universities lost much more than just funds. For the basic objective of the scheme was to promote innovative ways of learning and collective all-round growth of students . The four universities that could measure up to the UGC standards are: Osmania University, Kakatiya University, Andhra University and University of Hyderabad. They had submitted seven proposals out of which five were selected.