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News State-specific higher education index by FICCI-EY but have a more urgent imperative to e x p a n d a c c e s s f o r a l l . B i h a r, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Jharkhand are few examples. Bihar has the least number of HEIs per lakh population (only 7) and has a very high intra-state migrant students, highlighting disparity among districts. While Chhattisgarh has less than 15% (70) colleges are accredited by NAAC, out of which only 4 have been rated A, A+. Once the states have been grouped as per the EY-FICCI Index, the states can then take a closer look at what steps are required to transform their higher education system. For this, we have outlined a three-step recommendation roadmap: A list of “Core Action Points” that are common for all states: The starting point for the journey towards the vision may be different, but the basic tenets of core transformation agenda remain similar. The states can develop a meta-university (choice of multi-discipline courses from various colleges) with partner states, setup and strengthen the State Higher Education Councils (SHECs), foster competition and collaboration for research among institutes, etc. Interventions specific for the four groups, including long term recommendations and a 300-day road map: States with similar as-is scenario are grouped together and the roadmaps for each group have been proposed. The states could use the 300-day action plan as a starting point and then look at the group level recommendations based on the group they currently belong to. They may consider to launch initiatives for top 4-5 professional HEIs to reach global standards, invest in CoEs, incubators, research networks and IP development, promote institutional alliances, catalyse the State Private University Act to drive private investment, provide graded strategic and operational autonomy to 10 Curriculum November 16 2015 affiliated colleges, offer targeted scholarships for under-served communities etc. State-level recommendations: The socio-economic considerations are likely to guide local actions in addition to the core and group roadmaps. The state action plan may look at budgetary constraints, unique demographic and geographic constraints, and the maturity of the higher education system. While the State Governments are taking several measures to improve their higher education systems, there is need for them to play a more active role in transforming the higher education system. The states still struggling with basic chall