Achievements of Higher Education Department from the year 2011-2019 
| 1 | Fifteen new Universities were set up. Of these, seven are State-aided (Coochbehar Panchanan Barma University; Kazi Nazrul University, Asansol; Bankura University; Diamond Harbour Women’s University; Raiganj University; West Bengal University of Teacher Training, Education Planning and Administration, Kolkata; and Sanskrit College and University) and eight are private universities (Techno India University, North 24 Parganas; Seacom Skills University, Birbhum; Adamas University, North 24 Parganas; Neotia University, South 24 Parganas; University of Engineering and Management, North 24 Parganas; JIS University, North 24 Parganas, Amity University, North 24 Parganas and Brainware University, North 24 Parganas). Of the fifteen Universities, thirteen are functional; the remaining two will start functioning from July, 2016. |
| 2 | The North Bengal University, Siliguri started a new campus at Jalpaiguri from 2013-14. Three Regional Centres of the Netaji Subhas Open University are being set up at Durgapur, Jalpaiguri and New Town, Kolkata. |
| 3 | Till 2011, the State had set up 36 Government Colleges. In the last four years, the State Government has set up 31 new Government Colleges (of which 28 are already functional and the remaining three will be functional from July, 2016) and 15 Government-aided colleges (fourteen are functional). |
| 4 | The State’s first Hindi-medium General Degree College at Banarhat, Jalpaiguri started functioning from August 2014. For the first time, Santhali was introduced as a subject in the State Eligibility Test (SET) conducted by the West Bengal College Service Commission, thereby opening up avenues for recruitment of Assistant Professors in Santhali in the State’s colleges. |
| 5 | As a result of the huge expansion in higher education, the State’s Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) which was 12.6 in 2011 rose dramatically to 17.5 in 2014 (as per the GoI’s All India Survey on Higher Education). |
| 6 | The West Bengal State Higher Education Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2013 was enacted with a mandate to provide a 17% reservation for OBC students, to be achieved over a six-year period starting from 2014-15, without reducing the total number of seats available for the General Category students. In 2014-15, the very first year of implementation, a total of 59,612 OBC students were admitted, which was 10.6 % of all students admitted in the State’s UG and PG level courses. |
| 7 | The annual expenditure under the Plan budget of the Higher Education Department went up from Rs. 111.74 crore in 2010-11 to Rs. 426.67 crore in 2015-16. |
| 8 | To improve the quality of teaching, 1570 teaching posts, 43 posts of Officers and 1036 non-teaching posts were created in the State-aided Universities, Government Colleges and Government-aided Colleges. |
| 9 | The West Bengal College Service Commission selected candidates for filling up 126 vacant posts of Principals and 1,907 posts of Assistant Professor in Government-aided Colleges. |
| 10 | The West Bengal Public Service Commission took up recruitment for 1,149 vacant and newly-created posts of Assistant Professors; by December 2015, it had recommended 937 candidates for appointment in Government Colleges. The Commission also started the recruitment exercise for 40 vacant posts of Principal in the State’s Government General Degree Colleges.Since 2011, over 7829 Assistant Professors and about 264 Principals have been recruited in Government / Government aided Colleges. |
| 11 | The West Bengal Public service Commission also took up filling up of 235 vacancies of teachers in different Government Engineering & Technical Colleges. Till December 2015, 41 candidates were appointed. |
| 12 | The Librarians of Government Colleges and Librarians/ Assistant Librarians / Deputy Librarians of Government-aided Colleges were conferred with “Teaching” status, along with all the attendant financial and service benefits, including Career Advancement Scheme and leave encashment up to 300 days. |
| 13 | The leave encashment of Principals and whole-time teachers of Government-aided Colleges at the time of superannuation was enhanced to 300 days. The Graduate Laboratory Instructors (GLIs) were conferred with “Teaching” status, along with the attendant financial benefits, including Career Advancement Scheme. |
| 14 | A long-pending demand of the hostel and mess employees of State-aided Universities and Government-aided Colleges was granted when they were conferred with ‘Group D / non-teaching employee’ status with the attendant benefits of pension, GPF, encashment of leave salary, etc. |
| 15 | As many as twenty Bills were placed before the West Bengal Legislative Assembly and passed, indicating the high level of reforms undertaken by the Higher Education Department. |
| 16 | New Recruitment Rules were framed for the post of Principal, Professors, Assistant Professors and Librarians in Government Colleges and Government-aided Colleges. |
| 17 | The Biswa-Bangla Scholarship Scheme was instituted at SOAS (School of Oriental & African Studies), University of London for two scholarships at the Master’s level and one at Ph.D. level for students from the State. |
| 18 | Beneciaries under SVMCM Scholarship went up to 1,25,116 in 2018-19 from 7432 in 2010-11. Budget for SVMCM scholarship increased to Rs.211.90 Cr in 2018-19 from Rs.9.45 Crs in 2010-11. 9043 beneciaries under K3 component of Swami Vivekananda Merit-cum-Means Scholarship(SVMCM) scholarship during 2018-19 |
| 19 | A major e-governance initiative was taken to bring in greater transparency and fairness in admissions to all UG and PG level courses by making admissions online in all Government and Government-aided higher education institutions, from the academic session 2015-16. |
| 20 | Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) introduced at UG/PG levels in all Colleges and Universities. Currently 11 Universities and 304 Colleges are accredited by NAAC. 8 Universities and 188 Colleges have been identied for accreditation. |
| 21 | Number of teaching posts have been enhanced due to introduction of CBCS in Government aided Colleges |
| 22 | Uniform curriculum framed as per NCTE regulations |
| 23 | e- Pension, e-office, e- billing, e-salary, e-tender & e-procurement introduced |
| 24 | Online application & verification of scholarship introduced |
| 25 | Court Case Monitoring System – introduced |
| 26 | 732 virtual class rooms in Government/ Government aided Colleges/ Univesities are set up |
| 27 | Free Wi-Fi/ internet facility in every State funded HEI are set up |