Higher education institutions that are less than 20 years old will now be eligible to apply for deemed university status, according to the revised guidelines released by the Centre. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has simplified the eligibility criteria with the aim of establishing more quality-focused deemed universities, as reported by PTI.
The Union Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, unveiled the UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2023, which will replace the previous guidelines from 2019. These regulations also require private universities to create executive councils similar to those in central universities.
Overall, these changes in the guidelines aim to encourage the establishment of more deemed universities focused on providing quality education. By expanding the eligibility criteria to include newer institutions and introducing measures to ensure better governance, the government aims to enhance the higher education landscape in the country.
According to Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the new rules are built on the principle of a “light but tight” regulatory framework envisioned in the National Education Policy 2020.
“The new simplified guidelines will encourage universities to focus on quality and excellence, strengthen the research ecosystem and have a long-term impact in transforming our higher education landscape. The norms will facilitate creation of many more quality-focused deemed to be universities in an objective and transparent manner,” Pradhan said.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) Act empowers the central government to grant the status of an institution deemed to be a university to any non-university institution. The initial regulations regarding this were introduced in 2010 and subsequently revised in 2016 and 2019.
Under the previous 2019 guidelines, institutions that had been in existence for at least 20 years were eligible to apply for deemed university status. However, the revised guidelines have introduced new criteria, including multi-disciplinarity, accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), ranking by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), and accreditation by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA).
According to the revised guidelines, any multi-disciplinary institution that holds valid accreditation from NAAC with a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of at least 3.01 for three consecutive cycles, NBA accreditation for two-thirds of eligible programs for three consecutive cycles, or ranks in the top 50 in any specific category of NIRF for the past three years continuously, will be eligible to apply for deemed university status.
Furthermore, the guidelines state that a cluster of institutions managed by multiple sponsoring bodies or a society can also apply for deemed university status.
These revised guidelines aim to provide a more comprehensive and quality-focused approach in granting deemed university status, considering factors such as multi-disciplinary programs, accreditation, and rankings. This is intended to enhance the quality of higher education institutions and promote excellence in various disciplines.
The new regulations also introduces the “Distinct Institution” category, where an existing institution or an institution starting from the beginning with the focus on teaching and research in unique disciplines and/or addressing the strategic needs of the country or engaged in the preservation of Indian cultural heritage or preservation of the environment or dedicated to skill development or dedicated to sports or languages or any other discipline, so determined by the Expert Committee of Commission, will be exempted from eligibility criteria.
UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar said that the 2023 guidelines are in tune with NEP 2020 and they are light but tight.
“We hope these regulations will encourage many more high-quality higher education institutions to be established in our country in emerging areas to meet the aspirations of our students. Since ‘deemed to be universities’ wording is part of the UGC Act, 1956, we cannot remove this term at this time. However, it will be removed once the Higher Education Commission of India is established through an act of Parliament,” he said.
The revised guidelines have brought several changes to the criteria for deemed universities in India. Currently, there are approximately 170 deemed institutions in the country.
Some of the key changes include:
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Faculty Strength: The minimum required faculty strength has been increased from 100 to 150.
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Corpus Fund: For private institutions, the corpus fund requirement has been increased from Rs 10 crore to Rs 25 crore.
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Executive Councils: Deemed universities will now need to establish executive councils similar to those in central universities.
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Academic Bank of Credits (ABC): Deemed universities are now required to register on the Academic Bank of Credits, which will enable them to offer twinning programs, joint degree programs, and dual degree programs.
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Off-Campus Centers: Deemed universities with a minimum ‘A’ grade or ranked from 1 to 100 in the “universities” category of NIRF rankings can set up off-campus centers. Institutions declared as deemed to be a university under a ‘distinct category’ can apply for off-campus centers after five years of their declaration if they are accredited with an ‘A’ grade or ranked in the top 100 in the ‘universities’ category of NIRF.
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