India’s ambitious plan to set up 374 “model colleges” in local districts where gross enrollment rates are lower than the national average has gone awry because state governments are unwilling to bear the cost, reports India Today. The northeastern state of Nagaland, for example, said it had no need for a model college, an unnamed education ministry source told India Today. “As it is, their existing college seats go vacant,” the ministry official said.

The northern state of Himachal Pradesh has also rejected the idea and has instead proposed an expansion of existing colleges. So far only the northern state of Punjab and the southern state of Karnataka have sent proposals for the model colleges for approval by India’s university regulator.

As proposed by the federal government, the colleges would adopt several Western-style academic standards, such as a semester system and credit transfers, as part of an effort to reform Indian higher education.