Central govt to introduce new system to grade universities

New Delhi February 24: The Central government is taking up a initiative to introduce a new system to grade universities of the country, states a recent communication to the Supreme Court (SC).

The process of framing the requisite criteria is expected to be finalised within the next three months.

Meanwhile, the government is in the process of consulting different stakeholders, including the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), to chalk out the criteria required for grading the varsities.

This move of central government has been opposed by few private, deemed universities, which stated that the government could not stipulate criteria since there is no rule as such, and that it could not be carried out through executive action.

The government has been asked by the court to address these objections within three weeks.

Now, the UGC has completed physical verification of eight universities as per the court directive and found that the universities are lacking in certain parameters.

The commission has also granted seven of these varsities another year restore the deficiencies in terms of infrastructure and faculty.

A total of 41 deemed universities in the country are under judicial inspection for being unable to meet different criteria needed for recognition.

The court has directed UGC to conduct physical verification of eight such universities after they agreed for the same.

Source: TOI