GOVT TAKING ‘GRANT’ OUT OF THE UGC

NEW DELHI: The government proposes to restructure the University Grants Commission and replace it with a new Higher Education Commission of India. A Bill, which will repeal the UGC Act 1951, will be tabled in the Monsoon session. That sounds big but, in practice, it would dilute the scope of the regulator, to the extent that it will no longer have the role of funding the universities.

Instead, the draft legislation has proposed that the regulator only focuses on setting, maintaining and improving academic standards in universities. In that case, the grant functions would be taken over by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Officials said that it had been observed that the roles of “regulation and grant” were conflicting. One cannot be involved in regulation while being a part of the system. Regulation and grant of funds will, therefore, be handled by two different arrangements. The system will also go digital. The government is going to push for more prior disclosures on parameters like infrastructure, teacher’s strength, academic achievement, placement data or research publications. The defined parameters would be put on the website and has to be proactively disclosed to the public. HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, after posting the new draft on the ministry’s website, has asked all educationalists, stakeholders and the general public to give feedback before 5 pm on July 7 on the draft. The new Higher Education Commission will have 12 other members appointed by the central government, apart from the chairperson and vicepresident. The secretaries of higher education, the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship and department of science and technology, as well as the chairpersons of AICTE and NCTE and two serving vice chancellors, would also be among the members of the commission.