As Bihar gets over 200 new colleges, what’s next for its teachers? Training at Oxford

On Sunday, as 2,451 newly appointed assistant professors gathered for an orientation programme spread across 211 brand-new colleges, Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary announced from the podium that some of the very teachers filling these classrooms could, before long, find themselves walking the corridors of Oxford.

"We will identify professors and faculty members to send them for training and orientation courses to the world's best universities, including Oxford," said Chaudhary during the orientation programme as the Bihar higher education department plans to send selected professors to premier international universities.

The government will select 100 teachers in the first lot from among its 1,000-odd degree colleges, including 211 opened on Sunday. "Sending our teachers to foreign universities including Oxford and Harvard for interactions is a part of our ambitious plan to further improve and bolster higher education and boost the teacher’s confidence.

We will soon have a detailed plan and a definite selection process," Bihar higher education minister Sanjay Singh Tiger told The Indian Express. Bihar also became the first state in the country to open that many colleges simultaneously.

The 211 colleges, all set up in block towns that previously had no degree college of their own, is aimed at bringing rural students, particularly young women, out of the bind of travelling long distances for higher education.

With the rollout of these new colleges, Bihar's total tally of state-recognised degree colleges now stands at over 1,000, up from around 800. The international exposure plan is a part of wider reforms already under way. "With the state allocating 21.7% of its budget (Rs 68,216 crore) to education in the current 2026–27 fiscal year, we are giving education a bigger push, with higher education receiving fresh momentum.

While we are now ensuring 75% attendance and biometric tracking for teachers, we also aim to introduce smart classes, AI, and inter-college, national, and international exposure for both teachers and students," said a higher education department official.

The move has also found approval within Bihar’s older academic establishments. "It is a welcome move that long-neglected higher education is trying to balance quantity and quality by bringing modern pedagogy, research techniques, and global standards back to local classrooms in Bihar," said a Patna University professor.

Santosh Singh is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express since June 2008. Expertise He covers Bihar with main focus on politics, society and governance. Investigative and explanatory stories are also his forte.

Singh has 25 years of experience in print journalism covering Bihar, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. ... Read More