As part of mega reforms in the higher education sector, the Centre will bring out a graded regulatory mechanism under the ambit of University Grants Commission (UGC). HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on Sunday said there has to be greater reforms in UGC where the thrust is to give more autonomy to good institutes and “monitor mid-level and monitor more those in the lower rungs”.
Under the new format, all the universities will be graded for their courses, departments, curriculum, faculty, administration and overall performance annually. The grading system will be similar to the existing exercise being conducted by some of the private university ranking agencies. The Centre is looking towards giving more arms to the UGC and according to HRD Ministry officials the role of other regulatory bodies like AICTE, NAAC etc will also come under the Commission's same framework. Currently, there is no rating agency of Indian university from the Government side and all are based on the public perception.
“The Government will look into in greater transparency, freedom and autonomy. Everybody would be incentivised to go upwards,” Javadekar said talking about the key reforms in UGC. Referring to the Union Budget 2017, Javadekar said that it reflects the Government’s vision of raising quality in the education sector, which has got additional funds this time to the tune of `6,000 crore.
Modelled after University Grants Committee of United Kingdom, UGC in India is a statutory body set up by the Parliament Act under the purview of HRD. Presently it is charged with coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of higher education. Besides It provides recognition to universities in India and disburses funds to recognised universities and colleges.
The HRD minister also referred to the announcement made in 2016 Budget about creating 20 world class institutions, and said that consultations are complete and guidelines finalised. He also announced that ‘SWAYAM’, an open web based platform from which 2000 courses will be run for students across the country, will be launched next month.