FICCI welcomes new guidelines for deemed varsities

New Delhi, June 17 FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) has welcomed the new regulations approved by the HRD Ministry for deemed universities and termed them much-needed relief to the higher education sector.

"These regulations clearly indicate the current government's intent to liberalise higher education in the country. Owing to certain stringent and regressive clauses, the 2010 regulation has been contentious (mostly within private Deemed universities) since its inception," FICCI President Harshavardhan Neotia said.

The Union Ministry of Human Resources Development had approved new guidelines for the Deemed To Be Universities following recommendations made by the University Grants Commission on Thursday.

According to new regulations, there will be no bar on the number of off-campus centres that an institution can set up.

"Keeping in view the need to maintain academic currency and quality in the new provision, it has been mandated that such institutions will review the syllabus every 3 years at least," a statement released by Ministry of Human Resource Development here said.

The new guidelines have also mandated the universities not to charge more than Rs 10,000 at the time of counseling.

"The regulations provide an impetus to accreditation and other measures of quality. Institutions applying for the Deemed To Be Universities would need to have the highest NAAC/NBA grading at the time of application or have to be in the top 20 of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF)," the statement added.

The HRD ministry has also said that the new regulations will encourage transparency and focus on quality.

"To encourage transparency, it has been decided that the visits of expert committees for inspection to such institutions will be videotaped and put on the website within 24 hours," the statement said.

In another departure from the previous guidelines, the new guidelines allow the persons who establish a Deemed University to occupy the post of Chancellor or Pro Chancellor.

IANS