Jun 06 2017 : The Times of India (Chennai)
Top 50 univs to get full autonomy: UGC
Siddharth Prabhakar
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Chennai:
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In a path-breaking move, the University Grants Commission has decided to make the top 50 ranked varsities or those with an NAAC score of 3.5 completely autonomous, with freedom to start new courses departments without its approval. They can seek and get funding from central private agencies, appoint qualified foreign faculty up to 20% of their strength or admit foreign students up to 20%, fixing their own fee. As per the new UGC regulations, universities in the top 50 of the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) list for two consecutive years or having an National Assessment and Accreditation Council score of 3.5 or above are in category 1, with complete autonomy.Those with a 3.01-3.49 NAAC score or a 51-100 NIRF ranking for two consecutive years will be in category 2 with limited autonomy . Those not in these two categories will have no autonomy . A varsity with a poor rating will be warned that if it doesn't buck up in five years it will be moved to category 3.The draft regulations will be on the UGC website, for feedback from stakeholders, till June 15.
“UGC wants to give greater autonomy to universities, especially in starting courses, hiring and admitting students, but only to the best institutes. Currently there is no grading mechanism to decide this,“ said an academic who was part of the panel that framed the regulations. Getting permission for foreign academic collaborations will be easier for category 1 institutions, he said.
As per NIRF 2017, Anna University , Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and Bharathiar University are the only state universities in category 1 along with deemed universities like Amrita, VIT and SASTRA. University of Madras, ranked 64, is in category 2.
Currently, universities struggle for ministry of external affairs clearing for hiring foreign faculty or even calling them for a seminar, he said.“There are foreign exchange regulations and UGC has to be kept in the loop. This will now be relaxed.“
Universities are always under the bureaucratic lens of UGC committees for the prestigious 12B status to get central grants or other external reviews. Now, category 1 varsities can just send a report in review format to UGC and category 2 universities can do it through an external peer review mechanism.
Grading is expected to bring about a healthy competition among universities for research funding from public as well as private agencies.
“UGC wants to give greater autonomy to universities, especially in starting courses, hiring and admitting students, but only to the best institutes. Currently there is no grading mechanism to decide this,“ said an academic who was part of the panel that framed the regulations. Getting permission for foreign academic collaborations will be easier for category 1 institutions, he said.
As per NIRF 2017, Anna University , Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and Bharathiar University are the only state universities in category 1 along with deemed universities like Amrita, VIT and SASTRA. University of Madras, ranked 64, is in category 2.
Currently, universities struggle for ministry of external affairs clearing for hiring foreign faculty or even calling them for a seminar, he said.“There are foreign exchange regulations and UGC has to be kept in the loop. This will now be relaxed.“
Universities are always under the bureaucratic lens of UGC committees for the prestigious 12B status to get central grants or other external reviews. Now, category 1 varsities can just send a report in review format to UGC and category 2 universities can do it through an external peer review mechanism.
Grading is expected to bring about a healthy competition among universities for research funding from public as well as private agencies.
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