UGC drafts regulations to control deemed university fees

Abhay Anand | Nov 28, 2019 - 3:39 p.m.

NEW DELHI: In continuation with its resolve to bring parity in fee structure in private aided and unaided institutions, the higher education regulator, University Grants Commission (UGC), has sought comments on a draft fee regulation policy for deemed-to-be universities.

Students and parents have been demanding regulation of the fees charged by some institutions, and also a ban on the practice of charging capitation fee. In February, the UGC issued new regulations for deemed-to-be universities – standalone institutions that enjoy many of the powers of a university but aren’t established through any state or central law. There are 127 deemed-to-be universities in the country.

The new policy set new guidelines for their functioning and says that no deemed-to-be university can collect more fees than what has been prescribed by the fee committee constituted as per the new regulations.

The UGC has given the public 15 days to comment on the draft policy, following which the Commission will start the process of creating fee committees.

The draft regulation proposes to establish “fee committees” to decide the fee structure of deemed-to-be universities. The fee will be decided on the basis of the institution’s location, the average per-seat cost and the quantum of government aid it is receiving.

The draft policy clearly states that “No institution shall charge capitation fee in any form or manner”. It also proposes a penalty for violating the regulations – a fine of up to Rs. 10 lakh.

It proposes different fee structures for different professional programmes.

Fee Regulation structure

With no uniformity in the fee structure of deemed institutions, it was found that institutions located in the same region were charging different amounts for the same programmes. The fee for engineering courses ranges from Rs. 7 lakh to Rs. 9 lakh, while that for medical courses, it its Rs. 20-25 lakh.

On receiving feedback from stake-holders, UGC will constitute fee committees to regulate the fees. As per the draft regulation, the committee will determine the fee structure of an institution considering the economic condition of the various social groups of that area. It will also increase or decrease the fees depending on whether the institutions get some form of aid from the government or not.

The operating costs of the institute –including staff salaries, contingency funds, administrative, laboratory and library costs – will also be factored in.

It has been stated in the draft that an institution will not be able to charge fees from a student for more than a semester or a year, depending on the calendar of the course.

The fee approved by the committee will be valid for a period of three years, after which a fresh review will be done to assess the situation.

Every institution will have to submit its fee structure for approval six months before the academic session starts.

Composition of Fee Committees

The draft proposes a five-member committee to be headed by a former Vice-Chancellor or former head of a regulatory body like the UGC. The other four members of the committee will include an eminent educationist who had achieved the rank of a professor, a nominee of a statuary national regulatory authority, an expert from the field of accountancy and an officer of the UGC.

Pvt Institutes To Charge Fee Semester Wise: UGC

UGC draft rules proposes fee fixation committee to regulate fee structure

By OB Bureau On Nov 28, 2019

New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has proposed to set up a high-powered committee to regulate the fee charged by private-aided and unaided institutes.

The fee approved by the five-member committee for each of the professional programmes and for different category of students will be communicated to the institutions well before the commencement of the admission process.

No institution shall charge capitation fee in any form, the draft UGC (Fees in professional education imparted by private-aided and unaided institutions deemed to be universities) Regulations, 2019 has said. The rules have provisions for more than one committee if required.

The commission, which examined the draft rules at a meeting in October this year, has put them in public domain for feedback from various stakeholders. The commission in its note has made it clear that no capitation fee shall be charged from a student, citing Supreme Court ruling in this regard.

The draft rule says that the institution shall charge from the student only the fee that has been approved by the committee.

Significantly, it makes it clear that lodging, boarding, transport, books etc shall be optional and not compulsory for students.

It further states that the approved fee shall be payable by the students at the time of admission for not more than one semester where the professional programme is semester-based. Likewise, where the programme follows an annual calendar, the fee shall not be charged for more than one year.

The return on investment or revenue surplus shall be utilised only for the development and expansion of the institution. It shall not be diverted or expanded for any other purpose.

According to the draft rules, the fee approved by the fee committee at any time shall be valid for three years. Any changes will come into effect at the time of new admission.

Composition of the committee:

An eminent educationist who has been a vice-chancellor or head of a statutory national regulatory body appointed by the UGC chairman

An educationist of eminence

A nominee of the statutory national regulatory authority

An expert with a standing of at least 10 years in the field of cost accountancy or institutional finance

An officer of UGC not below the rank of joint secretary.

FASTags pose serious data privacy and security threat

DECCAN CHRONICLE. | SANGEETHA G

PublishedNov 30, 2019, 1:43 am IST

Criminals, Govt agencies can access data; threat to women’s safety.

FASTag is no more an option for vehicle owners but a mandatory requirement.

Chennai: FASTags that are soon going to be mandatory for all vehicles passing through National Highway toll booths pose a data privacy threat to the vehicle owners. It can also be a serious security threat for women owners.

FASTag is no more an option for vehicle owners but a mandatory requirement. But with FASTags it is possible to access the ownership and other data pertaining to the owner and it will be easy for tracking a vehicle not just by government agencies and other stakeholders of the system, but for private persons as well since RFID readers are easily available in the market at very low cost. “Worldwide, mass warrant-less surveillance of cars is a major human rights issue,” finds Fennel Aurora, Security Advisor at F-Secure, a Finnish cyber security company.

“Worldwide, this is mainly implemented via far more invasive and non-optional automatic number-plate recognition (APNR) via pervasive video surveillance cameras. There is a movement across the US of local governments trying to pass ordinances banning police departments from buying this kind of technology,” he said.

According to Aurora, depending on the implementation, it may be possible for persons with malicious intend to use a cheap RFID scanner to obtain sensitive information about vehicle owners from the tag by walking past parked cars and this information can be used for further crimes.

“Potentially the payment information could be retrieved, and fake payments forced to pass onto the linked account. Tags could be cloned to use on the criminals’ vehicle–a form of identity theft,” he said.

For women owners, there is an additional threat. If the name/gender of the vehicle owner is available, this can be a significant risk for women who can be more easily tracked and targeted by violent men waiting near identified cars, he said.

“The tag is primarily a unique signature and the data is out there. Being a privacy enthusiast, it is my top most priority to ensure that my data remains protected. FAS-Tag should be an option and not forced upon individuals,” said Farrhad Acidwalla, Founder, Cybernetiv Digital.

According to Sunil Sharma, Managing Director–Sales, India & SAARC, Sophos, all the software systems can be breached and FASTags also carry the cyber security threats that any software system carries.

“Given the widespread security, privacy, safety, and corruption issues around the Aadhar system, there are obvious reasons to doubt this new system also. Like many similar convenience measures that come with built-in surveillance, one has to wonder whether the few seconds saved is worth the potentially extreme costs.”

Doctor

MCI rules Violation for MBBS admissions: Varsity slapped with Rs 2.5 crore fine by Gujarat High Court
November 29, 2019

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court has imposed a fine of whopping Rs 2.5 crore to a medical university noting that the institution had violated the rules and regulations set by the Medical Council of India (MCI) on the centralized process of MBBS admission.

The decision comes in the case of Parul University, whereby the varsity had had sought regularization of admissions of 15 students to whom the MBBS seats were given on its own accord after the same had become vacant from the Centralized Process of Admission. The varsity had earlier applied to the single bench which had denied any relief to it, pursuant to this, it moved the higher bench of the HC.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the MCI had called for discharging of these 15 students from MBBS courses and the single bench had held the MCI decision

At that hearing, the bench had expressed its anguish over the fact that every year when the admissions for the medical courses commence, it has had the occasion to witness chaos. The bench disappointedly stated, “This is yet another example where the Court needs to express its anguish over the insensitivity of the college in admitting students flouting the set rules and regulations of the centralized process of admission. The issue that arises for consideration before this court is whether the petitioners could have on their own granted admission to 15 students on the seats which became vacant on withdrawal of admissions by the students who were initially allotted admission in the Centralized Process of Admission.”

Before admitting the students on its own, the varsity had said that it had in fact informed Admission Committee for Professional Undergraduate Medical Educational Courses (ACPUGMEC) to furnish a merit list so that in the eventuality of the seat falling vacant, the University can fill the same by offering the same to the next meritorious candidate.

Despite such request and in absence of any active response from the ACPUGMEC and since the time frame of 31.08.2017 was fast approaching, it had no alternative but issue an advertisement in two newspapers inviting applications from meritorious students, the university had submitted

After going through all the submissions, the bench observed that as per the MCI regulations on MBBS admission process, the varsity could not have carried out the process of admission on their own. Even merit has been compromised in the admission process conducted by the university further implying that the MCI’s decision and the ACPUGMEC stance are not at fault, the bench had added.

Aggrieved with the single bench’s decision, university approached the higher bench of honourable Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice A J Shashtri who has now imposed a fine of Rs 2.50 crore on the Parul University for admitting 15 students to its medical course without the consent of the centralised admission committee, reports Mirror

However, the court asked the students to make a representation before the state government to regularise their admission.

Chennai: Bar council bans practice by 5 advocates

DECCAN CHRONICLE.

PublishedNov 29, 2019, 1:49 am IST

On November 13, he returned with 14 other people and demanded Rs one crore saying the store was selling fake gold

On November 13, the city police arrested the lawyers along with four others, who claimed to be journalist and police officers on charges of extortion.

Chennai: The Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry has prohibited five Chennai based advocates, who has been charged with extorting money from the owner of Saravana Stores Elite Jewellery shop in T Nagar, from practising law.

A communication from BCTP represented by its secretary C.Raja Kumar said by a resolution dated November 27, 2019, advocates M.Jagadeeshwaran from Ennore, V.Sriram from Kilpauk, A.Amanullah from Pudupettai, B.Murugan from East Tambaram and M.Sundara Pandya Raja from Kodambakkam have been prohibited from practice in all Courts, Tribunals and other authorities in India either in his name or in any assumed name till the disposal of disciplinary proceedings pending against them.

On November 13, the city police arrested the lawyers along with four others, who claimed to be journalist and police officers on charges of extortion.

According to police, Siva Aruldurai, owner of Saravana Stores Elite Jewellery Shop in T.Nagar complained to the police that one Dhanasekar who claimed to be the Vice President of Universal Press Media had visited the shop on November 3. He had exchanged some gold coins for a three sovereign gold chain.

Following this, he accused the shop of giving him a fake gold chain. Claiming to be from the press fraternity he said he would give the news to the media about the store and forced the shop to part with Rs 15 lakh.

On November 13, he returned with 14 other people and demanded Rs one crore saying the store was selling fake gold. The employees alerted the police, who arrived at the spot and nabbed nine persons, which included five advocates while the rest managed to escape.

UGC panel to decide fees in deemed universities

Deemed-to-be-universities would no longer be able to fix fee for courses offered by them as fee committee(s) to be constituted by UGC would regulate such fees.

Published: 29th November 2019 05:23 AM 

By S Mannar Mannan

Express News Service

COIMBATORE: Deemed-to-be-universities would no longer be able to fix fee for courses offered by them as fee committee(s) to be constituted by UGC would regulate such fees.The UGC on Wednesday released the draft ‘fees in professional education imparted by private aided and unaided institutions deemed to be universities regulation 2019’ and sought feedback from stakeholders.

According to the draft regulation, the committee will determine the fee based on social aspects like population share of SC/ST, socially and economically backward classes, economically-weaker sections, minorities, and rural population and their educational needs.

If the institutions do not follow the fee structure, the committee shall be competent to impose a fine up to `10 lakh per violation in addition to refund of the excess fee charged and punish violators under section 24 of UGC Act.

Is it a highway, people ask

Express took a ride from Central to Thiruverkadu, travelling some 40 km in both directions. Here’s what Omjasvin M D and P Jawahar witnessed

Published: 28th November 2019 06:27 AM 

By Omjasvin M D and P Jawahar

Express News Service

Despite being a busy National Highway, EVR Periyar Salai (Poonamallee High Road) has not been maintained properly. On some stretches, like the Koyambedu-Thiruverkadu, the road has developed craters and on other stretches, there is sand, leading to heavy dust pollution. In some parts, the road itself is missing. The recent rains added to the woes of the motorists.

MGR University

The stretch outside the entrance of MGR University at Maduravoyal has craters. Many motorists pass this stretch at the cost of severe back pain among other health issues. About a hundred metres away, there is no asphalt on the road but just gravel and stones, causing a jittery feeling for bike riders

Pachaiyappa’s College

Though the damage is not so much as the stretch on the outskirts, potholes and bumps remain a major concern. Short spells of rain on Wednesday afternoon covered the potholes confusing commuters.

Vanagaram

At Vanagaram there are craters. About 20 traffic police officials have been deployed here to regulate traffic as the road has become completely dangerous for commuting. Veera Ragahavan, who commutes on the stretch said brakes do not work properly on the stretch and chances are high that vehicles can topple. Even buses seem to be in danger when they cross the stretch.

Velappanchavadi

Here, sandy road is the only one available for commuters to use. When buses pass this stretch, they kick up the sand, causing severe dust pollution and breathing issues to commuters. “It even blocks our vision during the day’’, said Vijay G, a commuter.
The bad roads have been earmarked for repair and National Highways Authority of India officials have deployed asphalt paving machines and road-rollers for work

Thiruverkadu

Thiruverkadu is a busy stretch, but here too the problem remains the same. The part of the highway is battered severely with potholes, bumps and craters even at prime junctions. Bearing back pain and other health issues, commuters cross the stretch with the hope that one day things will improve

Dr. Mehta’s Hospitals

Near this hospital at Vellappanchavadi, on the service lanes, there are heaps of garbage. Apart from this, sand has filled the service lanes. Adding to the public’s hardship is that there are no street lights on this stretch. This can cause vehicles to slip and fall

Maduravoyal flyover

As unclosed pits have been left unattended for a long time under the Maduravoyal flyover, rainwater has stagnated on this stretch. In the wake of the city reporting many dengue cases, civic negligence in prime localities like this is a cause of concern.
Besides, lane separators, which are normally painted in white, are missing. This leads to vehicles shifting lanes indiscriminately.