The University Grants Commission (UGC) has become the first autonomous organisation to have launched an annual capacity building plan after the Centre established the Capacity Building Commission in 2021, according to officials.

 The annual capacity building plan (ACBP) was officially launched on Tuesday by UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar in the presence of R Balasubramanium, Member HR, Capacity Building Commission.

 "UGC is the first autonomous organisation to have initiated planning for the capacity building of its employees in collaboration with CBC. The ACBP is a comprehensive plan outlining interventions essential for enhancing individual officials' competencies and the overall capacity of UGC.

"The plan is derived from a robust capacity need assessment exercise that was done with UGC officials and staff over a period of six months starting from March, 2023," Kumar said.

The UGC chief explained that the idea is to build, develop and enhance the abilities, talents, competencies, efficiency and qualifications of UGC employees to increase their capacity to serve the higher education system in India. Through the initiative, UGC employees will be trained in four key areas - behavioral, functional, domain and technology competencies.

"Behavioral competencies will help the UGC staff take up bigger roles than what they normally perform. Functional competencies will help the UGC staff perform better in administration, procurement and financial management. Enhancing domain competencies help them perform better in specialised fields such as policy making or project management.