University Grants Commission (India)

Coordinates: 28°37′45″N 77°14′23″E / 28.62917°N 77.23972°E / 28.62917; 77.23972

University Grants Commission
Abbreviation UGC
Motto Gyan-Vigyan Vimuktaye (Knowledge Liberates)
Formation 1956 (1956)
Headquarters New Delhi
Location
Chairman
 V.S. Chauhan
Affiliations Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, NCERT
Website www.ugc.ac.in

The University Grants Commission of India (UGC India) is a statutory body set up by the Indian Union government in accordance to the UGC Act 1956[1] under Ministry of Human Resource Development, and is charged with coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of higher education. It provides recognition to universities in India, and disburses funds to such recognised universities and colleges. V.S. Chauhan is the incumbent chairman.[2] Its headquarters is in New Delhi, and six regional centres in Pune, Bhopal, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Guwahati and Bangalore.[3]

UGC is modelled after University Grants Committee of UK which was an advisory committee of the British government and advised on the distribution of grant funding amongst the British universities. The committee was in existence from 1919 until 1989.

History

The UGC was first formed in 1945 to oversee the work of the three Central Universities of Aligarh, Banaras and Delhi. Its responsibility was extended in 1947 to cover all Indian universities.[4]

In August 1949 a recommendation was made to reconstitute the UGC along similar lines to the University Grants Committee of the United kingdom. This recommendation was made by the University Education Commission of 1948-1949 which was set up under the chairmanship of S. Radhakrishnan "to report on Indian university education and suggest improvements and extensions".[5][6] In 1952 the government decided that all grants to universities and higher learning institutions should be handled by the UGC. Subsequently, an inauguration was held on 28 December 1953 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the Minister of Education, Natural Resources and Scientific Research.

In November 1956 the UGC became a statutory body upon the passing of the "University Grants Commission Act, 1956" by the Indian Parliament.[1]

In 1994 and 1995 the UGC decentralised its operations by setting up six regional centres at Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bhopal, Guwahati and Bangalore.[7] The head office of the UGC is located at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in New Delhi, with two additional bureaus operating from 35, Feroze Shah Road and the South Campus of University of Delhi as well.[8]

Professional councils

UGC, along with CSIR currently conducts NET for appointments of teachers in colleges and universities.[9] It has made NET qualification mandatory for teaching at Graduation level and at Post Graduation level since July 2009. However, those with Ph.D are given five percent relaxation.

Accreditation for higher learning over Universities under the aegis of University Grants Commission is overseen by following fifteen autonomous statutory institutions :[10][11]

Future

In 1976, the Union Minister of Education made open the government of India's plans to close down UGC and the related body All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), in favour of a higher regulatory body with more sweeping powers.[12] This goal, proposed by the Higher Education and Research (HE&R) Bill, 2011, intends to replace the UGC with a "National Commission for Higher Education & Research (NCHER)" "for determination, coordination, maintenance and continued enhancement of standards of higher education and research".[13] The bill proposes absorbing the UGC and other academic agencies into this new organisation. Those agencies involved in medicine and law would be exempt from this merger "to set minimum standards for medical and legal education leading to professional practice".[14] The bill has received opposition from the local governments of the Indian states of Bihar, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, but has received general support.[13] UGC has directed ten institutions to immediately shut down their off-campus centres.[15] In December 2015 the Indian government set a National Institutional of Ranking Framework under UGC which will rank all educational institutes by April 2016.[16] UGC has suggested to all Universities in India to set up an Online Admission System from the academic session commencing in 2016-2017.[17] Recently UGC has released 22 fake universities, 9 are from Uttar Pradesh, 5 from Delhi, 2 from West Bengal and one each from Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Odisha.[18]

References

  1. 1 2 "UGC Act-1956" (PDF). mhrd.gov.in/. Secretary, University Grants Commission. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  2. ↑ "Chairman, University Grants Commission, New Delhi". University Grants Commission,. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  3. ↑ University Grants Commission Govt. of India website.
  4. ↑ "University Grants Commission - Genesis". University Grants Commission. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  5. ↑ "Introduction to the university education commission of 1948". Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  6. ↑ Denny. "University Education Commission 1948-49 in India". YourArticleLibrary. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  7. ↑ "About Western Regional Office". University Grants Commission. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  8. ↑ "About Eastern Regional Office". University Grants Commission. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  9. ↑ "CSIR UGC 2013".
  10. ↑ "Higher education in India". Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved 2009-11-16.
  11. ↑ "Professional Councils". University Grants Commission. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  12. ↑ "UGC, AICTE to be scrapped: Sibal". iGovernment.in. Archived from the original on 9 October 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  13. 1 2 Reporter, BS (March 6, 2013). "States oppose national panel for higher education and research". Business Standard. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  14. ↑ TNN (Oct 5, 2013). "Major push to change the face of higher education". Times of India. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  15. ↑ "UGC Guidelines".
  16. ↑ "New ranking system portal goes online, UGC tells all varsities to register".
  17. ↑ "UGC Asks All Universities To Ensure Online Admission System".
  18. ↑ "UGC lists 22 fake universities on its website". India Today. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
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