UGC approves plan for graded autonomy to edu institutions

Universities will be exempt from UGC’s regular inspections

 KRITIKA SHARMA | Updated: Aug 25, 2017, 08:15 AM IST, DNA

Universities either accredited by NAAC with a score of at least 3.5 or ranked in the top 50 institutions of National Institutions Ranking Framework for two consecutive years will be under the ‘Category I’

The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Thursday approved the plan to grant graded autonomy to institutions on the basis of their performance. This means that the institutions performing extremely well will be completely free of government control and the poor performers will get least autonomy.

The plan was approved by members of UGC in a meeting held on Thursday, where secretary higher education and other members of the council were present. "Discussion on graded autonomy was one of the main points on the meeting agenda. The council members decided to go ahead with the plan and include suggestions that are received on this from public on framing of the guidelines," a council member present in the meeting told DNA.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has received a number of suggestions on the UGC portal and on the basis of that, guidelines will be framed in the coming days.

According to the plan, UGC-recognised public, private and deemed universities will be divided into three categories, and according to those categories, each institute will be awarded different degrees of autonomy.

Universities either accredited by NAAC with a score of at least 3.5 or ranked in the top 50 institutions of National Institutions Ranking Framework (NIRF) for two consecutive years will be under the 'Category I'. Universities under this category will be free to start a new course.

ELIGIBILITY RULES

Universities either accredited by NAAC with a score of at least 3.5 or ranked in the top 50 institutions of National Institutions Ranking Framework (NIRF) for two consecutive years will be under the ‘Category I’.