Revision as of 21:39, 8 December 2016

Foreign universities

Rules on alliance with, revised: 2016

The Times of India, June 23, 2016

UGC rules on alliance with foreign univs revised

 The human resource development (HRD) ministry said UGC regulations on twinning arrangement with foreign educational institutions has been amended with a thrust on transparency and simplification. HRD minister Smriti Irani said the 2012 regulation did not result in enough foreign universities showing interest in having twinning arrangement with Indian counterparts. As per the amended regulation, Indian Educational Institutions (IEI) with `A' grade or threshold accreditation should have experience of six years or at least two batches passed out.

Joint degrees will not be allowed. However, name of foreign educational institution can be indicated on the degree. Prescribing of cre dits from foreign educational institutions shall be issued by them and when jointly signed by IEI shall form part of the transcript. To maintain academic credibility, a minimum duration of collaboration has been specified under one semester for PG degree and two semesters for UG degree.

Irani also announced a scheme for state universities for which professors from universities like Cambridge, Pennsylvania, Yale, Columbia, GeorgiaTech, University of California Berkeley will be invited to spend a year to help them improve curriculum and pedagogy . This is being done under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan.

2016, evaluation boycott by teachers

2016, Existing teaching hours at selected Delhi University colleges and in select faculties, as well as the hours stipulated by the UGC in 2016; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, June 12, 2016

The Times of India, June 12, 2016

Manash Gohain

DU teachers are going to continue their evaluation boycott and then decide on future action at the general body meeting that day. The DU Teachers' Association (DUTA) decided to step up their agitation despite an “assurance“ from the UGC that there will be no change in the workload for the teachers.

Teachers seem to have a point, as according to the new UGC calculations there will not be enough workload even for the permanent teachers, leave alone the need to retain the ad-hoc teachers -who are close to 40% to 45% of the total workforce in the university.

So far silent on the issue, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) too expressed solidarity with the protesting teachers' on Saturday .However, ABVP called upon DUTA to resume evaluation in the interest of the students.

The teachers, apart from the rollback of the UGC's new rules on workload, are also demanding a complete rollback on the academic performance indicator scheme of 2010 for promotion and recruitment of teachers.

Explaining the drawbacks of the new rules on workload and kind of job loss it will bring in, Abha D Habib, physics teacher at Miranda House, said that based on UGC's new formula her department would need just 10 teachers in the current semester and the department had 13 permanent teachers. Therefore it would also directly impact the seven ad-hoc teachers, as they won't be required.

“We would need just 13 teachers. In many places, we will find that even permanents will become surplus,“ Habib added.

Another teacher of Hansraj College explained the situation for the English department there. Mithuraaj Dhusiya said that as per the new scheme of workload total direct teaching hours is 136 hours and teacher requirement is eight and there are 12 permanent teachers working in the department at present.

ABVP , which is the latest group to join the chorus for a rollback, said that the UGC notification is a regressive provision. Vinay Bidre, national general secretary of ABVP said: “We stand in solidarity with the teachers and demand an immediate rollback of the provisions. At the same time, the future of students is at stake due to the boycott and we appeal to the teaching community to resume evaluation.“

Judicial verdicts

UGC: institutes can’t keep students’ original papers

The Hindu, December 9, 2016

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has brought out an elaborate sets of rules to put an end to “coercive and profiteering” practices by educational institutes regarding verification of certificates during admission, and remittance of fees and refunds.

Attested copies

As per the new rules notified by the UGC, no higher education institute can insist upon a student to submit the original academic, personal certificates and testimonials like marksheets, school leaving certificates and other such documents while submitting the admission form.

The institutes can physically verify the original documents at the time of admission and return those immediately, though they can keep attested copies, the new norms add.

The institutes can charge fee in advance only for the semester or year in which a student is to engage in academic activities.

“Collecting advance fee for the entire programme of study or for more than one semester or year in which a student is enrolled is strictly prohibited as it restricts the student from exercising other options of enrolment elsewhere,” the norms say.

Withdrawal

If a student chooses to withdraw from the programme of study, the institute will have to follow a four-tier system for refund of fees remitted by the student. If the withdrawal notice is served 15 days before the formally-notified last date of admission, not more than 10 per cent of the aggregate fees as processing charges from the refundable amount can be deducted.

As per the new norms, as the day for admission nears or passes, when the notice of withdrawal of admission is served to the education institute, the amount that can be deducted from the refundable deposit will also increase.