NITI Aayog & MHRD to Implement Measures to Improve UGC & AICTE Regulatory Frame Works

With an objective to bring reforms in the education sector, the government had decided to replace AICTE and UGC with Higher Education Empowerment Regulation Agency (HEERA). However, the formulation of HEERA might take some time, and the government decided to implement short-term measures to free up education and bring qualitative changes in education. NITI Aayog and MHRD will work on an 11-point agenda.

After holding consultations with Ministry of Human Resource and Development, NITI Aayog has come up with a plan and decided to implement the short-term measures for improving the regulatory frameworks of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The details of government agenda to promote quality education are listed below: -

Two-term Leadership: -

• Any institute will be given two terms for leadership.
• However, the government provides an exception for specific institutes that fare exceptionally in accreditation or rankings during the second term.

NET Mandatory for Ph.D. Admissions: -

• The government will take steps to make National Eligibility Test (NET) mandatory for the admission to Ph.D. programme.
• Usually, candidates who qualify NET get eligible as Assistant Professor/ Junior Research Fellowship (JRF).

Also read: - Government to Do Away with UGC & AICTE! HEERA to be New Regulatory Body

The Foreign Element: -

• Only top 500 institutes in international rankings like QS or Times Higher Education (THE) will be allowed to maintain academic collaborations with international institutes or universities.

Autonomous Institutions: -

• With an objective to ensure transparency and permit institutes on various parameters like awarding a degree and designing new courses, the government will replace the current norms of UGC for autonomous colleges with regulations.

Permission for Offshore Campuses: -

• Only high ranked universities in India will get permission to open offshore campuses in the areas of geopolitical importance.

Online Freedom: -

• Top-ranked institutions in India can run full-fledged online courses.
• However, these online courses must be at par with the standards of top 100 universities.

Also read: - AICTE Rolls Out Six Month Preparation Programme

Limit on UGC Inspections: -

• With an objective to bring greater objectivity and transparency through clearly defined assessment criteria, the government will limit UGC inspections.
• The government will make all the inspection reports available online.
• The government will limit the role of UGC inspections to begin academic operations/ department/ institute/ programme.

Rewarding Good Faculty: -

• Additional compensation and incentives will be given to around 10% of associate professors and professors.
• The objective is to attract faculty of global repute.

Three Levels of Graded Autonomy: -

• Institutes with higher accreditation grades will get more autonomy.
• These institutes will get autonomy at three levels, i.e., financial, administrative and academic.

Accreditation Overhaul: -

• The government will appoint renowned national and international agencies for accrediting institutes on quality parameters in an objective manner.