Finding the University Grants Commission (UGC) ill-equipped to address the challenges posed by the manifold increase in the number of universities — particularly private universities and deemed-to-be-universities — the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has set up a committee to restructure the apex regulatory body for higher education in the country.
The four-member committee will be headed by former UGC chairman Hari Gautam and will have as its members C.M. Jariwala (former head and dean of law at Banaras Hindu University), Kapil Kapoor (former pro vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University) and the Joint Secretary in the Higher Education in the ministry as its members.
The HRD Ministry order said there is a realisation that the UGC is not able to do justice to its mandate in light of “massification” of higher education. “Faced with the fact that a lot of private institutions have come up in higher education sector and the growing trend of commercialisation of higher education, several States having created private universities which sometimes are not maintaining the laid down standards of higher education, the UGC’s entire functioning continues to be oriented more towards grant giving rather than regulation and enforcement of minimum standards.”
This, according to the Ministry, called for an urgent review of the UGC in its entirety. As per the last count, India has 28 million students in 726 universities and 38,000 colleges.
