UGC grants full autonomy to 62 higher educational institutes; JNU included

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The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Tuesday approved full autonomy for 62 higher educational institutions, including JNU, BHU, AMU, TERI and University of Hyderabad, which have maintained high standards of excellence.

The decision was taken at a UGC meeting today where five central universities, 21 state universities, 26 private universities besides 10 other colleges were granted autonomy under the Autonomous Colleges Regulation.

Union Human resource Development minister Prakash Javadekar hailed as "historic" the UGC move which will enable the selected institutes to decide their admission procedure, fee structure and curriculum, among others.

"Today is a historic day for higher education in India. These quality institutions will get complete autonomy by which they can start new courses, new departments, new programmes, off campuses, skill courses, research parks, appoint foreign faculty, take foreign students , offer variable incentive packages, introduce online distance learning," Javadekar told reporters here.

He said these institutes can also get into academic collaboration with top five hundred universities of the world.

"And for all of this they will not have to come to the regulator again and again for seeking permission because they have maintained quality and achieved a benchmark of 3.26 and above NAAC (National Accreditation and Assessment Council) ranking," he added.

The central universities which have been granted autonomy include--Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Banaras Hindu University (BHU), University of Hyderabad and the English and Foreign Languages University, Telangana.

The state universities which have been granted the autonomous status are Jadavpur University, Andhra University, Algappa University, National University of Law, Utkal University, Kurukshetra University, Osmania University, Guru Nanak Dev University, University of Jammu, University of Mysore, Anna University, Panjab University and University of Madras, among others.

OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat and Pandit Deen Dayal Petroleum University, Gujarat are among the private institutions selected by the UGC for the autonomous status.

The 10 colleges which have been granted autonomy will have full freedom but not degree awarding powers, Javadekar said.

"The colleges will be free to conduct admissions, decide curriculum, conduct exams on their own and evaluate them and declare the results. However, the degrees which will be awarded will have the university name along with theirs," he added.

The UGC also decided to issue show-cause notice to three deemed to be universities for not meeting the required standards.