New Delhi.The University Grants Commission on Tuesday announced that it will grant full autonomy to 62 institutes of higher education, including 5 central and 21 state universities.
HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said universities with a rating over 3.6 from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council will be granted autonomy. The central universities that will be granted autonomy are Jawaharlal Nehru University, Aligarh Muslim University, Banaras Hindu University, the University of Hyderabad and the English and Foreign Languages University in Telangana. Some of the state universities in the list are Jadavpur University, Andhra University, Algappa University, National University of Law, Utkal University and Osmania University.
These universities will remain under the purview of the UGC but will not have to seek permission to start new courses, programmes and departments, Javadekar explained. They will also have the freedom to open off-campus centres and research parks, admit foreign students and appoint faculty members from other countries.
The minister said these universities can even pay their faculty members more than what the Seventh Pay Commission recommends, which would allow them to attract the best teachers. Javadekar also said that these autonomous universities will be free to sign academic collaborations with the world’s top universities. The UGC will also grant autonomy to eight colleges. These will be able to prepare their own syllabi, conduct their own examinations and declare the results. However, a university will have to certify the degree they hand out.