Centre Announces Revised “Deemed University” Norms To Enhance Quality Education; Check Details Here

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The centre has revised the “Deemed University” Norms. The new criteria will be used to enhance and produce quality education. Institutions that are less than 20 years old can now apply.

Centre Announces Revised “Deemed University” Norms To Enhance Quality Education

New Delhi: The University Grants Commission has revised its laws, allowing institutions of higher education that are not yet 20 years old to apply for presumptive university status. Additionally, private universities are now required to establish executive councils, just like central universities.

The Centre on Friday unveiled new criteria for existing higher education institutions to qualify for the status of “Deemed Universities”, with the goal of producing more quality-focused deemed universities.

The UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2023, which will supersede the 2019 regulations, were issued by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan claiming that the idea of a "light but tight" regulatory structure from the National Education Policy 2020 serves as the basis for the new regulations.

“In addition to strengthening the research ecosystem and encouraging universities to concentrate on quality and excellence, the new, more straightforward standards will also have a long-term influence on changing the higher education landscape. The standards will make it easier to establish many more institutions of higher learning that are objectively and transparently judged to be universities,” Pradhan said.

According to the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act, the federal government may declare any institution that is not a university to have the same status as a university. These guidelines were first made public in this regard in 2010, and updates were made in 2016 and 2019.

Top higher education institutions with "existence for not less than 20 years" were eligible to seek the status under the 2019 regulations. However, multidisciplinarity, NAAC grading, NIRF rating, and NBA grading have now taken their place in the updated rules.

According to the guidelines, any multidisciplinary institution that has been accredited by NAAC for three consecutive cycles with a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of at least 3.01, NBA accreditation for two-thirds of eligible programmes for three consecutive cycles, or ranking in the top 50 of any given category of NIRF for the previous three years continuously is eligible to apply for the deemed status.

Additionally, it was added that a group of institutions run by multiple sponsoring bodies or societies might likewise aspire for recognition as designated universities.

The new regulations also include the "Distinct Institution" category, which refers to an existing institution or an institution that is newly established with a focus on teaching and research in distinctive disciplines and/or addressing the strategic needs of the nation, engaged in the preservation of Indian cultural heritage or preservation of the environment, dedicated to skill development, dedicated to sports or languages or any other discipline, as determined by the ERC.

According to UGC chairperson M. Jagadesh Kumar, the 2023 criteria are light but strict and align with NEP 2020.

“We expect that these regulations would encourage the creation of many more high-quality higher education institutions in our country's emerging regions in order to meet the aspirations of our students. We are unable to remove the words "deemed to be universities" at this time because it is a component of the UGC Act, 1956. But once the Higher Education Commission of India is constituted by a Parliamentary act, it would be eliminated,” he said.

Currently, there are about 170 designated institutions in the nation.

The number of faculty members was expanded from 100 to 150, the corpus money for private colleges was raised from Rs 10 crore to Rs 25 crore, and executive councils similar to those found in central universities were established in these universities.

The Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) registration requirement for deemed universities has also been made necessary under the updated criteria. According to the regulations in question, "the institutions can offer twinning programmes, joint degree programmes, and dual degree programmes," according to the standards.

Additionally, considered institutions that had at least an "A" grade or higher or that were rated between 1 and 100 in the "universities" category of the NIRF Rankings for the relevant year are qualified to establish off-campus centres.

According to the rules, "Institutions proclaimed as considered universities under a 'distinct category' may apply for off-campus housing after five years of their declaration if they are accredited with an A grade or ranked in the top 100 in the NIRF's 'universities' category.

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