New Delhi, Apr 20: To check mushrooming of deemed universities, a government panel has recommended tough conditions for institutes, including a mandatory 15-year standing and highest rating from an accreditation agency, for being considered for such status.
 The task force, set up by HRD Ministry to study a draft regulation prepared by UGC for deemed universities, has recommend that institutions should have minimum 15 years of standing to be considered for deemed university status.
 Any institution to be considered for deemed university status need to have secured A+ rating, the highest rating showing it has excellent standards, from an accreditation agency like National Accreditation and Assessment Council or National Board of Education, official sources said.
 Under the proposed regulations, no deemed university can offer courses in distant mode.
 These conditions, if approved by the UGC, will significantly check the unprecedented growth of such institutions. There are 130 deemed universities in the country of which more than 60 came up in the last five years alone.
 The government had set up a review committee last year to look into the functioning and academic standards of such institutions. The committee headed by P N Tandon found 44 institutions unfit for the status and another 44 deficient on a number of counts. The same panel was converted into a task force and was asked to study and suggest guidelines for regulating the deemed universities.
 The UGC recommends deemed university status to institutions on the basis of their academic standards. It conducts inspection and makes recommendation. UGC also recommends for De-Novo status to institutions in exceptional cases where the institutes are offering courses in emerging areas. In both the cases, the HRD Ministry grants the status on the basis of the recommendations by UGC.
 The task force has suggested that the UGC will have to engage a separate panel of experts to study whether the institute is offering courses in emerging areas for De-Novo tag, sources said.
 It has further said the deemed status will have to be reviewed by the UGC in every five years. The panel has said no deemed university can offer courses in distant mode. The panel found gross misuse of provisions by such institutions in offering courses in distant mode.
 The proposed regulation will be considered by the UGC which will then notify it.
 Meanwhile, the Tandon committee, which reviewed the functioning 126 deemed university, will now hear the views of the remaining four institutions. These institutions had not deposed before the panel.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
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