October 10, 2022

UGC to Offer Colleges More Autonomy: Plans to Amend Guidelines

F Following the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 proposal for greater autonomy for higher education institutions, the University Grants Commission (UGC) revised the college autonomy guidelines. The 2018 regulations will be replaced once the UGC (Conferment of Autonomous Status Upon Colleges and Measures for Maintenance of Standards in Autonomous Colleges) Regulations 2022 are approved.

The UGC regulations for 2022 state that colleges may now directly apply for autonomous status. The UGC draft regulations stated that "the parent university will examine the college's application for autonomous status on UGC portal and give its recommendations along with reasons/justification, within 30 days on UGC portal."

…these regulations give the autonomous colleges freedom to determine and prescribe their own courses of study and syllabi, and restructure and redesign the courses to suit local needs, make it skill-oriented, and in compliance with the job requirements…

The new regulations allow eligible colleges to submit applications on the UGC portal at any time of the year. Earlier, the proposal was to be submitted by colleges to the parent university. which required the parent university to send it to the commission within 30 days of receipt.

Despite the change, the requirements for eligibility remain the same. The applicant colleges must be accredited by either the National Assessment and Accreditation Council with a minimum A grade (with a score of 3.0 and above on a 4-point scale) or by the National Board of Accreditation for at least three programs with a minimum score of 675. The applicant colleges may be fully or partially funded, aided, unaided, or self-financing.

According to UGC chairperson M. Jagadesh Kumar, "These regulations give the autonomous colleges freedom to determine and prescribe their own courses of study and syllabi, and restructure and redesign the courses to suit local needs, make it skill-oriented, and in compliance with the job requirements."

Colleges will be able to create their own admission standards, course outlines, and syllabuses thanks to the autonomous status.

If the colleges have NAAC certification A, they can also extend their autonomy, while colleges with 15 years of autonomy can obtain permanent autonomy and stop needing to apply for extensions.

Posted in News and tagged News, Autonomy, National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, University Grants Commission (UGC), National Assessment and Accreditation Council, National Board of Accreditation, Permanent Autonomy
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