Sixteen universities favour uniform academic calendar

New Delhi, May 15 (UNI) As many as 16 universities are in favour of adopting a uniform academic calendar at the national level.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has so far received responses from 18 universities on its proposal for establishing the calendar and 16 out of these were in favour of the proposal, Minister of State for Human Resource Development M A A Fatmi told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today.

He said the idea behind the move was to enable the free movement of students from one state to another.

Private Universities: At present only eight private universities established by state legislatures were recognised, the Minister said in reply to another question.

These universities are: Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Gandhinagar, Gujarat; Nirma University of Science and Technology, Sarkhej, Ahmedabad, Gujarat; Jaypee University of Information Technology, Solan, Himachal Pradesh; Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Handicapped University, Chitrakoot Dham, Uttar Pradesh; Integral University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh; Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya, Hardwar, Uttaranchal; Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI), Dehradun, Uttaranchal.

All the above universities have been properly inspected by the Experts Committee of the UGC, the Minister said.

He said the UGC has issued the UGC (Establishment and Maintenance of Standards in Private Universities) Regulations, 2003 for setting up of private universities through State Act and Maintenance of Standards, Research, Examination and Extension Services in Private Universities.

These regulations apply to every private university established by or incorporated under a State Act, before or after the commencement of these regulations and also apply to all the degrees, diplomas and certificates offered by such universities.

University Administration: Replying to a question on the Karnataka Government decision to nominate politicians to Academic Councils of universities, the Minister said the Government does not interfere in the administrative matters of the state universities.

When asked whether it was ethical and useful to send non-academics to university bodies, he said the universities were established by the respective Acts of state legislatures under which they were competent to appoint members in their syndicates and Academic Councils on the advice of the state governments.

UNI NAZ AD GC1437