The Congress party and its visionary leaders have always considered quality education as a have for the society and these days if India is known globally for hub for higher education the credit must go to the Congress party, its top leadership. It’s really challenging to sum up the role of Congress party in a single article but we have tried to give a brief description of the premier educational been credited and these are acknowledged globally.

The University Grants Commission of India is a statutory organization set up by Union government of Congress party in 1956, for the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of university education.

UGC was recommended in 1944 and formed in 1945 to oversee the work of the three Central Universities of Aligarh, Banaras and, Delhi. In 1947, after independence, the University Education Commission was set up in 1948 by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru under the Chairmanship of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan and it recommended that the UGC be reconstituted on the general model of the University Grants Commission of the United Kingdom.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) was formally inaugurated by late Abul Kalam Azad, the then Minister of Education, Natural Resources and Scientific Research of the Congress government on 28 December, 1953.

However, UGC was formally established in November, 1956, by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru an Act of Parliament in 1956, as a statutory body of the Government of India. In order to ensure effective region-wise coverage throughout the country, the UGC has centralized its operations by setting up six regional centers at Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bhopal, Guwahati and Bangalore.

Congress Government made the higher education system in India includes both private and public universities. Public universities are supported by the Government of India and the state governments, while private universities are mostly supported by various bodies and societies. Universities in India are recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC), which draws its power from the University Grants Commission Act, 1956. In addition, 15 Professional Councils are established, controlling different aspects of accreditation and coordination.

By the efforts of the Congress government, Central universities,or Union universities, are established by an Act of Parliament and are under the purview of the Department of Higher Education in the Union Human Resource Development Ministry. The UGC lists 47 central universities.

State universities are run by the state government of each of the states and territories of India, and are usually established by a local legislative assembly act. As of 9 February 2017, the UGC lists 358 state universities. Note that most State Universities are “affiliating universities” in that they administer a large number of “affiliated colleges” (many located in very small towns) that typically offer a range of undergraduate courses, but may also offer post-graduate courses. More established colleges may even offer PhD programs in some departments with the approval of the affiliating university.

To expand higher education, the Congress government also started Deemed University, is a status of autonomy granted by the Department of Higher Education on the advice of the UGC, under Section 3 of the UGC Act. As of 9 February 2017, the UGC lists 122 deemed universities. According to this list, the first institute to be granted deemed university status was Indian Institute of Science, which was granted this status on 12 May 1958. Note that in many cases, the same listing by the UGC covers several institutes. For example, the listing for Homi Bhabha National Institute covers the Institute of MathematicalSciences, the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research and other institutes.

Private universities are approved by the UGC. They can grant degrees but they are not allowed to have off-campus affiliated colleges. The UGC list of private universities as on 9th February, 2017 lists 258 private universities. This is due to the rigorous efforts of the Congress government that India has 785 universities. There are universities of some kind in each of the 29 states of India as well as three of the union: Chandigarh, Delhi and Puducherry. The state with the most universities is Rajasthan with 73 universities. Tamil Nadu is the state with the most deemed universities, numbering 28. Gujarat has the most state Universities numbering 28, West Bengal has 26 state universities and Uttar Pradesh has 26 State Universities. Rajasthan has the most private universities (42), Uttar Pradesh has six central universities and Delhi has five Central Universities the largest number of all the states and territories.

The Congress government also developed a system a part from the above universities, other institutions are granted the permission to autonomously award degrees. However, they do not affiliate colleges and are not officially called “universities” but “autonomous organizations” or “autonomous institutes”. They fall under the administrative control of the Department of Higher Education. These organizations include the Indian Institutes of Information Technology, Indian Institutes of Technology, the National Institutes of Technology, the various branches of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, the Indian Institutes of Management (though these award diplomas, not degrees) and other autonomous institutes. Because of their quality education, these institutes are considered world and the credit goes to the Congress government and their visionary leaders only.

Also not listed are institutes which are under the control of the professional councils, without approval of the UGC, e.g. Agricultural Universities, which are under the control of the Agricultural Education Division of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), one of the professional councils. Another milestone in education by the Congress is IGNOU. The Indira Gandhi National Open University known as IGNOU, is a distance learning national university Named after former Prime Minister of India and veteran Congress leader Indira Gandhi, the university was established in 1985 with a budget of 20 Million, when the Parliament of India passed the Indira Gandhi National Open University Act, 1985 (IGNOU Act 1985). IGNOU is run by the central government of India.

IGNOU, the largest university in the world with over 4 million students. It was founded to impart education by means of distance and open education, provide higher education opportunities particularly to the disadvantaged segments of society, encourage, coordinate and set standards for distance and open education in India and strengthen the human resources of India through education. Apart from teaching and research, extension and training form the mainstay of its academic activities. It also acts as a national resource centre, and serves to promote and maintain standards of distance education in India. IGNOU has started a decentralization process by setting up five zones, viz, north, south, east, west and north east. The Ministry of HRD has entrusted the responsibility of developing Draft Policy on Open and Distance Learning and Online Courses to IGNOU.

Before this, during the period of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) was established for higher Education and Research and which is India’s largest educational institute. Similarly, Institute of Open Schooling recognized by the CBSE is also operating. The Human Resources and Development Ministry of the Central government which run them give encouragement in Non-formal Education and is a golden opportunity to those who are unable to go to school.

The Congress governments are also credited for the establishment of world calls technical education. The first Indian Institute of Technology was founded in May 1950 in Kharagpur. The Parliament of India passed the Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur) Act, declaring it as an Institute of National Importance. Jawaharlal Nehru, first Prime Minister of India, addressed the first convocation address of IIT Kharagpur in 1956 said: The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are autonomous public institutes of higher education, located in India. They are governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 which has declared them as institutions of national importance alongside National Institutes of Technology and lays down their powers, duties, and framework for governance etc.

On the recommendations of the Sarkar Committee formed by the Congress government four campuses were established at Bombay (1958), Madras (1959), Kanpur (1959), and Delhi (1961). The location of these campuses was chosen to be scattered throughout India to prevent regional imbalance. The Indian Institutes of Technology Act was amended to reflect the addition of new IITs. Students demand in the state of Assam made Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi promise the creation of a new IIT in Assam. This led to a sixth campus at Guwahati under the Assam Accord in 1960. Laterthe University of Roorkee, India’s oldest engineering college was conferred IIT status. This was the efforts of the Congress government that IIT lists 23 institutes. Over the past few years, there have been a number of developments toward establishing new IITs.

They primarily offer postgraduate, doctoral and executive education programmes. The establishment of IIMs was initiated by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, based on the recommendation of the Planning Commission. The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are a group of 20 public, autonomous institutes of management education and research in India.

National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) is a fashion institute in India. It was set up in 1986 under the aegis of the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India and isan institution of design, management and technology for the international fashion business. NIFT was granted statutory status in 2006, empowering it to award degrees and other academic distinctions.

Over this period, NIFT has spread its wings across the length and breadth of the country. Through its 15 professionally managed campuses, National Institute of Fashion Technology provides a framework to ensure that prospective students from different parts of the country achieve their highest potential through the programmes offered. Since the early years of its inception, the institute has provided a firm foundation in fashion education. Since then, NIFT has scaled high academic standards. The faculty of the institute has grown into a community of leading practitioners, education enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, creative thinkers, researchers & analysts.

After Independence, one of the greatest challenge before India was agriculture and rural development. This necessitated the availability of trained human resources in these areas. Considering this Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru setup the first Education Commission of India (1949), headed by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. The commission recommended setting up rural universities in India on the American landgrant model. In the 1950s, Indian Parliament was already setting up specialized engineering universities - Indian Institutes of Technology as Institutes of National Importance. However, the Parliament had limited mandate in establishing such specialized institutions for agricultural education, despite the urgent need, as the Constitution of India had conferred the power to make laws in subjects of agriculture (including agricultural research and education) exclusively in the domain of the states. So the Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru asked the set-up of State Agriculture Universities.

SAUs are characterized by their triple mandate of teaching, research and agricultural extension. Since the initial SAUs were established with technical cooperation from United States landgrant universities, their academic programmes are strongly influenced by the American system and present a departure from the academic system prevailing in other general universities in India.

The Congress government sported Agriculture education in DOM prominent Central universities, including Banaras Hindu University, Aligarh Muslim University, Visva Bharati University, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Nagaland University and Sikkim University have distinct faculties in agriculture. A few central universities also have affiliated agricultural colleges.

In the same manner Congress government was able to start a very strong programme in agricultural engineering in IIT Khargpur while IIM A and IIM Lucknow have leading programmes in agribusiness. Central Food Technological Research Institute under AcSIR is the premier institute in food technology.

To promote animal husbandry and beet up milk production, the Congress government established NDRI. The National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal is India’s premier institute for dairy research. The institute was accorded the status of Deemed University in the year 1989.

AIIMS To improve health facilities in India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru initiated the establishment of AIIMS, New Delhi the fore runner excellence institution in 1956. The All India Medical Sciences are a group of autonomous public medical colleges of higher education. These institutes have been declared by Act of Parliament as institution of national importance. At present India has 7 functioning AIIMS and 10 proposed AIIMS. The veteran and visionary Congress leaders understand the role of Cinema and television in Indian Society and thus came the FTII in existence. Film and Television Institute of India. The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) is an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the India and aided by the Central Government of India.[ Since its inception in 1960, FTII has become India’s premier film and television institute, with its alumni becoming technicians, actors and directors in the film and television industry.FTII is a member of the International Liaison Centre of Schools of Cinema and Television (CILECT), an organization of the world’s leading schools of film and television.

The Television Training wing, which was earlier functioning in New Delhi, shifted to Pune in 1974. Thereafter, the institute became fully aided by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The Congress party and its great leaders have been conscious about the cultural heritage of India and they established quite a fever institutions to promote this. Sangeet Natak Academy and National School of drama are among that kind of institutions.

National School of Drama (NSD) is a theatre training institute situated at New Delhi, India. It is an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. It was set up in 1959 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and became an independent school in 1975.

The origins of the school can be traced back to a seminar in 1954, where the idea of a Central institution for theatre was mooted, subsequently a draft scheme was prepared in 1955, and the Sangeet Natak Akademi, which had Jawaharlal Nehru as its president, started drawing plans for the institution. Meanwhile,elsewhere in Delhi, Bharatiya Natya Sangh (BNS) with assistance from UNESCO, independently established the ‘Asian Theatre Institute’ (ATI) on January 20, 1958, and in July 1958, ATI was taken over by the Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA), India’s National Academy of Music, dance and drama of Government of India.One more achievement of the Congress government in education is the Regional Institute of Education (RIE, formerly known as Regional College of Education), is a constituent unit of National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), New Delhi. The RIEs are set up in 1963 by Government of India in different parts covering various regions. The Regional Institutes were started with the objective of qualitative improvement of school education through innovative pre-service and in-service teacher education programmes and relevant research, development and extension activities. The Regional Institutes of Education have established themselves as institutes of repute in the area of school and teacher education. The institutes have endeavored to shoulder the responsibilities and challenges generated by changes in the educational scenario of the country.

The Congress government also started the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) which is an examination conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, a private, non-governmental board of school education in India, for class 10, i.e., grade 10. It has been designed to provide an examination in a course of general education, in accordance with the recommendations of the New Education Policy 1986 (India), through the medium of English.

It was affiliated to French Board of Examination before 1986. The Congress government and its veteran leaders have worked real hard to establish world class educational institutes in every sector of education and the result is know to they country and its people.