UGC Full Form

UGC is a statutory body that derives its powers from a law passed by the legislature. On 28 December 1953 a law was passed in the parliament to form an organisation that will help in strengthening the education sector by determining standards and help in maintaining them so that quality education is delivered by the universities.

Genesis

Ancient India was the golden sparrow because of its people, education, advancement, trade and economy. Right from these times are education Institutions where renowned and attracted students from the entire country as well as from countries across the world be it the Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka) or Burma or Korea and Tibet. The Taxila, Vikramshila and Nalanda University are analogues of modern-day Howard, Stanford and other Ivy League colleges.

The present system is derivative of Elphinstone’s minutes in the year 1823 that called for establishing schools for teaching English and science, followed by lord Macaulay in his minutes in the year 1835 with the agenda to make the natives familiar with the English language.

In 1854 the Magna Carta of English education came with the wood’s dispatch. It recommended creating schemes of education from primary to university level.it encouraged indigenous education. Then came the universities of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras in the year 1925.inter universities board came into play in the year 1925. The first attempt to form a national level institute for education in India came in 1944 with the Sargent report. This report recommended the formation of the university grants commission. Which was formed in 1954.

For starters the role of the UGC was to oversee the work of the following three universities -:

1. Central university of Banaras

2. Central university of Delhi

3. Central university of Aligarh

Later in 1947 the reach of the UGC expanded and was given the role to look into the affairs of all the existing universities. Post-independence came the education commission with Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. The role of the commission was to suggest improvements in the Indian university education that are desirable for the present and the future.

One of the most crucial recommendations of the report was the reconstitution of the university grants committee. In the year 1952 government gave the responsibility of allocation of grants in aid from the public funds to the Central University to the UGC. in 1953 the then Education Minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad formally inaugurated UGC.  However, the establishment was in 1956, as a statutory body by an act in the Parliament of India the main function of the UGC was determination and maintenance of standards of the universities in India. For the region wise coverage 6 regional centres of UGC at Pune Hyderabad Kolkata Bhopal Guwahati and Bangalore were set up. The head office of UGC is at New Delhi and it has two additional offices as well.

Mandate

 UGC mandates include the following key points -:

• promoting and coordinating University education so that the level and curriculum is same across the world

•   determine and maintain standards of teaching examination and Research in universities so as to make them at par with the global ivy league universities

• Framing the rules on the minimum standard of education

• Distributing grants to universities and colleges

• Serving as a link between the state and central government in terms of the education sector and that too in higher learning

• Advising the state and central government on the actions and appropriate measures for the improvement of the higher learning institutions

Functions

UGC is the only grants giving agency in the country. It is entrusted with the following functions -:

• Providing funds to central and state universities

• Coordination of standards across the country

• Determination of standards at par with global level institutions

• Maintenance of standards

Parent organisation

UGC comes under the department of higher education in the ministry of education. The chairman is Dr. Mamidala and Jagadesh Kumar.

Budget

The budget of the statutory body UGC is Rs.4,693 crore for the year 2021-2022.

Types of universities

The type of universities that are regulated by UGC is as follows-:

• Central universities- they are also known as union universities. They are established by act of parliament. These come under the ministry of education and as of 31 st march 2021 arid 54 central universities are there as per UGC.

• State universities-These are run by state government and around 443 state universities are there as per 31 st march 2021. Among them the oldest being the university of Mumbai in 1857, university of madras and the university of Calcutta. Many state universities affiliate many colleges.

• Deemed universities-these are also known as deemed to be universities. This status is given as per the section 3 of the UGC act. The first university that got this status was the Indian University of sciences Bangalore in 1958.

• Private universities-they are approved by UGC. They can give degrees but are not allowed to give off-campus affiliation to colleges.as per 2017 around 282 private universities are there in the country.

Conclusion