Institutions having five departments will be eligible for ''deemed'' university status: UGC new rules

Institutions which have as many as five departments and those that have secured accreditation of 3.1 CGPA by the National Assessment and Accreditation of Council (NAAC) three years in a row for two-thirds of their eligible programs, will be eligible for a ''deemed'' university status, said new rules of the University Grants Commission.

''Multi-disciplinary Institutions with minimum 5 Departments (either UG/PG/Integrated/Research or a combination of these) or a Cluster of Institutions offering a minimum of 5 Departments (either UG/PG/Integrated/Research or a combination of these) located in the same city/town will be eligible to apply for Deemed University status,'' the rules say.

Notably, the draft UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2022 were announced on November 4 and after receiving the final stakeholder consultations, the same would be made final.

''These Regulations were notified to regulate, in an orderly manner, the process of declaration of institutions of academic excellence as Deemed to be Universities; and, further to maintain the quality of higher education imparted by Institutions Deemed to be Universities consistent with the ideals of the concept of a University,'' UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar.

He further pointed out that higher education in the country is going through a major transformation with the advent of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020. 

''UGC has reframed/modified the University Grants Commission (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2019 to make them in tune with the broader policies of higher education as contained in the NEP, 2020,'' Kumar added.

The UGC rules also state that institutes that do not have the required NAAC accreditation could also be in the top 50 of any specific category of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) for the last three years continuously or in the top 100 of overall NIRF ranking for the last three years.

''Deemed to be Universities with NAAC less than ‘A’ grade or ranked more than 100 in current NIRF ranking (Universities category) shall be monitored on the academic parameters by UGC Expert Committee,'' the rule mention.

The also state that NAAC with a minimum ‘A’ grade and above or ranked from 1-100 in the "Universities" category of the current NIRF ranking will be eligible to open off-campus centres.

The UGC has come out with penalty with for violations which include a warning through public notice, barring any expansion, closure of programs or departments, or off-campuses. 

''In case of repeated violations, withdrawal of Deemed University status,'' the rules further mention.