<p>Officials of the education department and the state higher education council will also participate.</p> — Officials of the education department and the state higher education council will also participate.

Patna: The state govt has decided to upgrade 54 reputed higher education institutions as centres of excellence under its ‘Saat Nishchay-3’ programme. The higher education department will finalise a detailed roadmap at a high-level meeting of vice-chancellors, principals and academic experts on Tuesday. The initiative aims to enhance academic standards and develop subject-specific expert centres across Bihar.

Higher education director N K Agrawal said the meeting, to be chaired by education minister Sunil Kumar at the secretariat, will firm up the roadmap for establishing these centres. Officials of the education department and the state higher education council will also participate.

Agrawal said all 54 institutions selected for the programme have been identified. The first phase, targeted for 2026-27, will cover 31 institutions, including Patna Women’s College, Patna Science College, Patna College, Magadh Mahila College and the College of Arts and Crafts. Development work for these colleges is expected to begin in the coming weeks.

The second phase, to be implemented from 2027 to 2030, will expand the initiative to colleges in districts such as Nawada, Arwal, Jehanabad, Buxar, Kaimur, Siwan, Gopalganj, Araria, Kishanganj and Vaishali. “Developing these institutions into centres of excellence will offer employment-oriented education and help restore their academic standards,” Agrawal added.