DUTA unhappy with UGC’s three-tier varsity categorisation

The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) has expressed its disappointment over the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) draft regulations that aim to slot all UGC-recognised public, private and deemed universities into three categories, with varying degrees of functional autonomy for different parameters, including enrolling PhD students. “Category-III” institutions would be the most regulated, while those in “Category I” and “Category II” would enjoy greater degrees of autonomy. The new regulations, termed UGC (Categorisation of Universities for Grant of Graded Autonomy) Regulations-2017, have been uploaded by the UGC on its website for soliciting opinion from stakeholders till the end of this month.

A “Category I” university would be one that has been accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), with a score of 3.5 or above, or has achieved a ranking among the top 50 institutions of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in the “category of universities” for two years continuously. “Category I” universities will be free to start a new course, department and school without the UGC’s approval. They will also be exempt from the UGC’s regular inspections and can collaborate with foreign educational institutions without the regulator’s permission. Their performance will be reviewed based on self-reporting.

A “Category II” university would be one that has been accredited by the NAAC with score between 3.01 and 3.49 or has achieved an NIRF ranking from 51 to 100 in the “category of universities” for two years continuously. These universities will also be exempt from UGC’s regular inspections, but will be subject to stricter control compared to “Category I” institutions. These universities will need the UGC’s permission to sign MoUs with foreign universities. The new regulations mandate that only those candidates would be eligible for enrolling for a PhD course under “Category III” institutions, who have qualified the National Eligibility Test (NET) or State Level Eligibility Test (SLET) examinations. “Category III” institutions will not enjoy any of the exemptions granted to their counterparts in the first two categories. Rajesh Jha, Executive Council member of DU and DUTA general secretary, said: “The draft regulations aim to divide all UGC-recognised public, private and deemed universities into three categories, each with different degrees of autonomy. The UGC’s regulations will increase privatisation and contractualisation in higher education.” However, a section of educationists has welcomed the draft regulations and said that the proposed changes, whether the formation of the proposed Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA) or renaming and structuring the UGC and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) as Higher Education Empowerment Regulation Agency (HEERA), will increase the competiveness of the higher education system in the country.