The Indian Higher Education system is expected to provide highly skilled human resource equipped with the required knowledge and expertise in tandem with the fast growing economy. Unfortunately, though the quantitative growth of higher education in India has been in leaps and bounds but the qualitative aspects seem to be missing. There is a lack of appropriate academic staff and their development is an issue that requires immediate attention by the concerned authorities. This study attempts to evaluate the impact of HRDC programmes on the teaching skills and knowledge up gradation of the teachers of various colleges of Jabalpur. A self made questionnaire has been used as a tool for the study of a total sample of 115 teachers selected randomly who have attended the refresher courses held by HRDC Jabalpur. Findings of the study reveal that there is a significant impact of the HRDC programmes on the subject knowledge up gradation of the academic staff. The results of the study indicate that even though the HRDC programmes have a significant impact on the teaching skills and knowledge enhancement of the teachers in higher education there are some lacunae in the professional development of the teachers which need to be addressed on a priority basis.

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Keywords: Higher Education, Human Resource Development Centres, Refresher Courses.