UGC Grants Graded Autonomy To Eight Universities

To improve the quality of higher education and empower universities in independent decision-making, the University Grant Commission (UGC) has granted autonomy to eight central universities in India. This will provide them with more flexibility and dynamism in academic, administrative, and financial matters.

The UGC granted autonomy to the universities in two categories: I and II under the UGC Regulations 2018. Under Category I autonomy, universities will get the highest level of independence, allowing them to determine their curriculum, fee structure, and admission processes. Under Category II autonomy, universities will get some flexibility but with certain limitations imposed by the UGC. The list of Central Universities Granted Graded Autonomy categorises the institutions as follows.

Category of Autonomy: Category I

Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer

Central Sanskrit University, New Delhi

University of Delhi

Central University of South Bihar

Category of Autonomy: Category II

University of Hyderabad

Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad

Central University of Punjab, Bathinda

Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Kangra

As per the UGCs expectations the decision will bring significant changes to the educational landscape in India. However the decision was not welcomed by the everyone equally and criticised being an attempt to privatise the institutions of higher learning in the country.

Prof. Rudrashish Chakraborty, Department of English, Kirori Mal College said, “The proposed scheme of Category I Graded Autonomy to the University of Delhi and other public Universities is a blatant attempt to degrade public funded education and to privatise higher education. The proposal implies that the Universities selected for Graded Autonomy will gradually shift towards a self-financed mode of education: imposing unimaginable financial burden on students and parents.”

How the UGC decision can impact the higher education?

Prof. Chakraborty added that the decision to bring autonomy to the higher education institutions is a sure recipe for disaster owing to the following reasons:

1. The public funded Universities will increase their fees manifold in order to generate resources.
2. The quality of courses will be compromised immensely as they have to cater to the demands of the market.
3. The students will be forced into a situation where they will get substandard courses and curriculum despite astronomical increase in fees.
4. In the self-financed mode of courses, there will be differential pay structure and service conditions for teachers.
5. The inevitable consequence of this proposal is the flight of talent from the public Universities to the private ones: both of students and teachers. It”s the culmination of the process where the private Universities will finally prosper at the final dismantling of the public Universities.
6. Affordable and quality public education will become a thing of the past and the social inequality will become rampant in education: where only the rich and the privileged can afford the same.