Page 2 - University Grants Commission

CUET exam for May 15 rescheduled to May 29 for Delhi centres: Official

The exam will be held in prescribed schedules for other centres other than Delhi, said the National Testing Agency

IIT Madras raises Rs 513 cr in funding for FY24, says it's a record

Institute's alumni give Rs 367 crore, a 282% rise compared to FY23

Out of syllabus: When vice chancellors get caught in a political tug-of-war

Rahul Gandhi's purported comments questioning the appointment of VCs has academics demanding legal action

Priority for human development

The Union government should allow federalism to function more effectively if it wishes to push human development

DU allocates Rs 67.71 crore for setting up WiFi in all college campuses

The Delhi University has allocated a fund of Rs 67.71 crore for setting up a WiFi network across all its college campuses and in an upcoming girls' hostel in northwest Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar, according to an official document. The WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) connectivity will be set up across about 90 colleges of Delhi University, on both north and south campuses and the Dhaka Hostel complex, the document said. The execution of the work will be funded from the loan corpus of Rs 938.33 crore taken by the varsity from the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) in October last year to undertake various developmental projects. A loan share of Rs 261.33 crore from this corpus has been sanctioned by the HEFA for setting up the WiFi network as well as to start the work for the construction of a building for the Faculty of Technology. The HEFA is a joint venture company of Canara Bank and the Ministry of Education which provides financial assistance for the creation of educational ...

UGC directs varsities, HEIs to publicise new criminal laws, dispel 'myths'

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has directed universities and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) across the country to publicise the new criminal laws and dispel "myths" surrounding them. Among the "myths" cited by the UGC are that the new laws "threaten" individual freedom and aim to establish a "police state", that sedition provisions have been retained under 'Deshdroh' and that these legislations enable "police torture". In its communication to the universities and HEIs, the UGC has also sent flayers mentioning these myths and truths. UGC Secretary Manish Joshi said, "The Higher Educational Institutions have been requested to publicise the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 around the themes contained in the flyers and by carrying out campaigns by way of displays through standees, distributing flyers and organizing seminars and talks by lawyers, judges both serving and retired and their respective faculties in their institutions." The HEIs have also been asked to share the .

Not a single reserved post will be de-reserved in colleges, says Pradhan

Amid a controversy over UGC's draft guidelines on filling of reserved posts in higher education institutes, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday clarified that not a single post will be de-reserved. Pradhan said there is no scope of ambiguity in reservations after introduction of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Act, 2019. Not a single reserved post will be de-reserved. There is no scope for ambiguity after the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Act, 2019, Pradhan told PTI. The draft guidelines by the University Grants Commission (UGC) have proposed that any vacancy reserved for SC, ST and OBC candidates can be "declared unreserved" if enough candidates from these categories are not available. The draft guidelines have been receiving backlash from several quarters. The Congress alleged there is a "conspiracy" to end reservation given to SCs, STs and OBCs in posts in higher educational institutions

Former Jamia VC Najma Akhtar seeks time to vacate official bungalow

Former Jamia Millia Islamia Vice-Chancellor Najma Akhtar has sought time to vacate the official bungalow saying she needs time to make an alternative arrangement, a senior university official said on Saturday. The university is yet to respond to Akhtar's request which has been pending with the registrar's office for over a month. The official, who spoke to PTI on the condition of anonymity, said "Professor Najma has written a letter to the university administration requesting to get an extension on her stay in the VC lodge till she can make an alternative arrangement." According to the Central government rules, an employee has to vacate the official residence within a month from the date of end of tenure. Akhtar's tenure ended on November 12 last year. Jamia, however, doesn't follow any prescribed time limit within which an outgoing Vice-Chancellor must vacate the official residence, an official from the VC office said. Akhtar, when asked, said she had not received any communicati

Enrolment in higher education reached 43.3 million in 2021-22: Report

As per the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) released on Thursday, 341 universities and university-level institutions have been established since 2014-15

VP Dhankar to visit Puducherry; interact with Central University students

Vice-President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar will interact with students of Pondicherry Central University here on January 28 during his visit to the union territory. The Vice-President, who is also the ex-officio Chancellor of Pondicherry Central University would participate in the interaction with the university students at 6.45 pm as part of the 'Viksit Bharat@2047' initiative, a press note from the Registrar of the University said. The release said that the University had kickstarted several activities under the 'Viksit Bharat@2047' to sensitise and encourage students to participate in large numbers in formulating and submitting their ideas for the initiative. The Prime Minister had urged Vice-Chancellors and faculty members of universities across the country to take the lead role in mentoring students to participate in the movement. The release also said Pondicherry University has conducted several activities which included talks by eminent personalities, panel discussions, ...

IIT Indore's Ujjain satellite campus approved by govt: MP CM Mohan Yadav

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said that IIT Indore's Ujjain satellite campus has received approval from the central government

MPhil not a 'recognised' degree anymore: University body warns students

The UGC has requested the universities authorities to take immediate steps to stop admissions to the MPhil programme for the 2023-24 academic year

'Selfie-points' in universities: What purpose do they serve?

The cult of personality damages democracy as it attempts to short-circuit the mind of the rational voter by discouraging intellectual consideration and debate about national issues

Colleges, varsities must disclose fee structure, refund policy: UGC chief

The UGC has made it mandatory for universities and higher education institutions to disclose on their websites details of fee structure and refund policy, hostel facilities, scholarships, rankings and accreditation, according to top officials. The move comes after the higher education regulator observed that the websites of several universities lack not only in providing basic minimum information but many of these are not functional and updated. Details of patents, foreign and industry collaborations, internal quality assurance cell, internal complaint committee, anti-ragging cell with helpline number, and equal opportunity cell, are also part of a checklist issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC). "We have found that the websites of several universities lack not only in providing basic minimum information related to their university but also at many a times their websites are not functional and updated. This causes lot of inconveniences and uncertainty to the ...

UGC bars varsities from printing Aadhaar number on degrees, certificates

Printing of Aadhaar number of students on degrees and provisional certificates is not allowed, the University Grants Commission has told varsities. The directive by the higher education regulator comes amid reports that state governments are considering printing of full Aadhaar numbers on provisional certificates and degrees issued by universities, for subsequent use in verification of said documents at the time of recruitment or admission. As per norms, no entity in possession of Aadhaar number shall make public any database or record containing the same unless the number has been redacted or blacked out through appropriate means, UGC Secretary Manish Joshi said in a letter to varsities. Printing of Aadhaar numbers on degrees and provisional certificates is not permissible. The higher education institutions should strictly comply with rules and regulations of UIDAI, he added.

NCERT granted deemed university status: Education Minister Pradhan

The National Council of Educational Research and Training has been granted deemed university status, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced on Friday. The minister made the announcement during his address at the 63rd foundation day of the NCERT. As the apex organisation for school education, the NCERT undertakes various activities and programmes, including educational research and innovation, curriculum development and development of textual and teaching-learning materials.

CUET: Equi-percentile method for normalisation in use for decades, says UGC

The equi-percentile method employed for the normalisation of scores in CUET-UG has been in use for decades globally and it is a fair mechanism where luck plays no role, UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar said on Monday. Results for the Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG, the gateway for undergraduate admissions in over 200 universities, were announced on Saturday. Some candidates have been complaining about their scores being brought down due to normalisation. "First, we must remember that we were required to conduct CUET in multiple shifts in a given subject due to the large number of students participating in the test. For example, if the test is in economics, NTA experts prepare multiple economics papers for use in different shifts. Despite our best efforts, the difficulty level of each paper will slightly differ from the other. Therefore, one needs to use normalised scores instead of scores obtained by a student," Kumar said. "For this purpose, we use a scientific method calle

105 universities to start 4-year undergraduate programme from this session

The Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUGP) is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 recommendations

UGC launches CU-Chayan, a unified portal to smooth recruitment process

The portal will act as a common platform to list all vacancies, advertisements, jobs across all central universities. The portal makes the recruitment process completely online

Allow students to write exams in local languages: UGC to universities

The University Grants Commission has asked universities to allow students to write exams in local languages even if the course is offered in English medium, according to Chairman Jagadesh Kumar. It said that higher education institutions play an important role in preparing textbooks and supporting the teaching-learning process in the mother tongue/local languages. The commission stressed that it is necessary to strengthen these efforts and "promote such initiatives as writing textbooks in the mother tongue/local languages and encouraging their use in teaching, including translating standard books from other languages". "Therefore, the commission requests that students in your university be allowed to write the answers in local languages in examinations even if the programme is offered in English medium, and promote translation of original writing in local languages and use local language in the teaching-learning process at universities," it said.