For improving the quality of higher education, different Commissions including Radhakrishnan Commission(1948) and Kothari Commission (1966) on higher education have recommended a sustained and purposeful development of academic staff. The National Policy on Education 1986 (NPE) has, inter alia, suggested that the present educational system does not provide opportunities to the teachers for professional and career development, initiative for innovative and creative work, and internalizing the techniques and value system to fulfill their roles and responsibilities.
Programme of action of NPE 1986 categorically mentioned a comprehensive programme of professional development through ASCs. Consequently, in 1987 the UGC sanctioned the setting up of 48 ASCs. The ASCs started functioning with the premise that the objective of Academic Staff Development Scheme is to enable academic staff to become effective facilitators of student learning through becoming effective managers of the conditions that affect learning. At present the number of ASCs in India is 52 .