Briefs – International

UK to guarantee assistance to poor students Minister Manmohan Singh has set out a new five-year plan that involves building 50 more universities and hundreds of new colleges, allocating 19 per cent of GDP to fund education. It is expected there will be a sharp rise in higher education participation from 10 per cent to 15 per cent by 2012 – an additional 7 million students. But demand is expected to outstrip supply. India has about 400 universities, 13 Indian institutes of technology and about 18,000 colleges in both the state and private sectors.