University Grants Commission update

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Data on faculty vacancies

Regulations to check deemed varsities
NEW DELHI : On January 27 the University Grants Commission formally approved the draft regulations that seek to tighten the noose around deemed universities.

The regulations would ensure government control on admissions, fee structure, job recruitment, curriculum and maintenance of academic standards in deemed universities, according to Prof K Ramamurthy Naidu, Chairman of the UGC committee constituted to frame the regulations.

According to the regulations approved by the UGC the admission of students "shall be made strictly on merit, on an all-India basis, in all the deemed universities through a common entrance test conduced either by the UGC or by an institution or agency identified and approved by it." This, experts say, will take the lusture away from a deemed university and put the new aspirants off.

Similarly the admission of NRIs/ persons of Indian origin/ foreign students to deemed universities shall also be governed by these UGC regulations, the regulations said adding that the records of admission shall be preserved at least till the time of the passing out of the respective student.

The regulations do not specify any quantum for the fee but say that the "fee structure for various programmes...shall also be fixed in accordance with the Regulations framed by the Commission."

The expert committee was appointed by the University Grants Commission in mid 2007. On November 30, 2007, the UGC decided to send a copy of draft regulations to vice-chancellors of all deemed universities, asking for comments and suggestions within 15 days. In December 2007 the Ministry of Human Resource Development sent a circular numbered F. 6-1(11)/2006(CPP-I) to all the stake-holders seeking their opinion on the proposed regulations.

The process took place over a year to finalise things and finally on January 27, 2009 the UGC approved the regulations and sent it to the HRD Ministry for the final seal of the union government.

The committee has provided for punitive action involving withdrawal of the deemed university status. It has also asked the institutions to implement the reservation policy in admission and recruitment as per directives of the Union government, Dr Naidu said.

According to the regulations the deemed universities should maintain the prescribed standards of instruction, academic and physical infrastructure, qualification of teachers, pay scales etc as mentioned by the UGC and it should have a valid accreditation from the National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC) with at least B or equivalent grade.

“The Central Government/ UGC shall have the right to cause an inspection of the institution deemed to be university, its buildings, labs, examinations, teaching and other work conducted or done by the institution and to cause an enquiry to be made, if considered necessary, by the Centre/UGC, in respect of any matter of the institution deemed to be university,” the regulations said.

“If the commission is satisfied that the institution deemed to be university has violated any of the provisions of these regulations or any directives issued by the commission, the UGC may direct the concerned institution not to admit new students for the period to be decided by the commission and in case of deliberate and continuous violation of these regulations, may advise the Centre for withdrawal of the declaration notifying the institution as an institution deemed to be university, "it said.

For the first violation, the withdrawal might be restricted to one academic session which could be extended up to five academic sessions for repeated violations.

However, for serious and debate violations, the status will be withdrawn permanently.

University Grants Commission
Bahadurshah Zafar Marg
New Delhi - 110002

www.ugc.ac.in

UGC makes NET/SLET must for M.Phil holders

NEW DELHI : The University Grants Commission (UGC) has made it mandatory for the M.Phil holders to clear the National Eligibility Test (NET) or the State Level Eligibility Test (SLET) to be considered for the post of lecturer.

The move is to ensure the quality of faculty in institutes of higher learning.

However, candidates holding a Ph.D might still get an exemption from clearing the NET if they have done their research in compliance with the UGC norms.

"In case, the Ph.D has not been done in compliance with the UGC rules, the candidate will have to clear the NET/SLET tests before he is considered for the post of lecturer," UGC chairperson Sukhadeo Thorat has said.

Earlier, keeping in view with the increasing number of vacancies in teaching posts in institutions across the country, the UGC had exempted the M Phil holders from clearing the NET/SLET tests. Even the L Mungekar Committee appointed by the UGC supported this exemption in their interim report. However, in their final report, the skipped the exemption as they had observed that students with the poorest percentage could get enrolled and acquire an M.Phil degree.

The UGC has also come out with a uniform regulation on Ph.D programmes, according to which the universities will lay down criteria for the faculty to be recognised as research supervisor for M.Phil and Ph.D students.

"A supervisor cannot have more than eight Ph.D and five M.Phil scholars at any given point of time. The universities will decide the number of M.Phil and Ph.D seats and advertise them widely. The universities will have to admit M.Phil and Doctoral students through an entrance test," the regulations said.

The entrance will be followed by interview in which the doctoral students will discuss their research area. After admission to the Ph.D course, the students will have to do a course work for a minimum period of one semester.

"The course work will be mandatory and it will be treated as pre M Phil/Ph D preparation," Thorat said.

After the students complete the course work, they will undertake a research work and will have to make presentation in their departments for feedback. Then they will produce their thesis within a reasonable time," he said. The thesis will be evaluated experts, including one expert outside the state. Then the candidates will have to appear for a viva voce exam, he said.

The institutes will submit a copy of the thesis to the UGC which would store in its depository being set up in Ahmedabad. The UGC will prepare a database on the Ph.D work being produced.