In September 2014, the union cabinet withdrew the Higher Education and Research Bill, 2011. The bill, which had been introduced in Parliament under the aegis of the Congress education minister Kapil Sibal, sought to create an overarching education regulator to replace the University Grants Commission and associated councils. The bill had been built along the lines of the Yashpal Committee recommendations to abolish the UGC and the All India Council for Technical Education and restore autonomy to higher education institutions.
At the time Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the bill had been withdrawn because of the reservations of a parliamentary standing committee, which felt that the proposed structure went against the federal character of the country.
Last week, the same question came up before the government again. One of the first committees set up by Smriti Irani’s ministry of human resources development recommended that that the UGC be wound up. The committee headed by former UGC chairman Hari Gautam proposed setting up a National Higher Education Authority. The ministry was quick to clarify that it still has to analyse the panel’s report and said that the “UGC has been created by an Act of the Parliament and cannot be unilaterally scrapped.”
The UGC is still the prime target when it comes to the reform of higher education. The commission is the apex body that, along with the All India Council for Technical Education, the National Council for Teachers Education and the Distance Education Council, regulates universities and colleges across India. The UGC was set up in 1953 and became a statutory body through an Act of Parliament in 1956. At the time, there were only about 30 universities in India. Now,
At the time Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the bill had been withdrawn because of the reservations of a parliamentary standing committee, which felt that the proposed structure went against the federal character of the country.
Last week, the same question came up before the government again. One of the first committees set up by Smriti Irani’s ministry of human resources development recommended that that the UGC be wound up. The committee headed by former UGC chairman Hari Gautam proposed setting up a National Higher Education Authority. The ministry was quick to clarify that it still has to analyse the panel’s report and said that the “UGC has been created by an Act of the Parliament and cannot be unilaterally scrapped.”
The UGC is still the prime target when it comes to the reform of higher education. The commission is the apex body that, along with the All India Council for Technical Education, the National Council for Teachers Education and the Distance Education Council, regulates universities and colleges across India. The UGC was set up in 1953 and became a statutory body through an Act of Parliament in 1956. At the time, there were only about 30 universities in India. Now,
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| Whether the UGC is higher education |
A university can be created in India in two ways. Either the central or state government must enact legislation to create a university or the UGC deems an institution of higher education to be a university. Any institute that awards a degree must be affiliated to a UGC-controlled university. The UGC is the apex regulatory body for higher education but has often often become mired in turf wars with technical education watchdog AICTE, autonomous institutes like the IITs and diploma-awarding ones like the IIMs.
The name “University Grants Commission” is something of a misnomer. While the UGC is responsible for providing grants to universities, colleges and researchers, its mandate is much broader. The commission is supposed to coordinate university education, decide and maintain education standards, monitor development and advise central and state governments on how to improve university education.
In his book, Amrik Singh argues that from the very day of its establishment the commission’s functioning has been hampered by the name given to it. The UGC’s primary function is to coordinate the functioning and determine and maintain standards across India’s universities. Distributing grants is a secondary function. “By giving it a misleading name the focus got shifted, which resulted in the bedeviling of the functioning of the UGC all these years,” Singh wrote.
The name “University Grants Commission” is something of a misnomer. While the UGC is responsible for providing grants to universities, colleges and researchers, its mandate is much broader. The commission is supposed to coordinate university education, decide and maintain education standards, monitor development and advise central and state governments on how to improve university education.
In his book, Amrik Singh argues that from the very day of its establishment the commission’s functioning has been hampered by the name given to it. The UGC’s primary function is to coordinate the functioning and determine and maintain standards across India’s universities. Distributing grants is a secondary function. “By giving it a misleading name the focus got shifted, which resulted in the bedeviling of the functioning of the UGC all these years,” Singh wrote.
Criticisms of the UGC
The falling standards of higher education is a reality that India has been contending with even as the number of students enrolling in colleges and universities has grown exponentially.
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