UGC draft norms on fixed term for Chancellor, mandatory corpus amount irks deemed-to-be universities

As per the draft regulations, any donation or capitation fee is strictly prohibited, and the fee structure should be in accordance with the guidelines by the relevant statutory body.

According to the EPSI, the norm to set aside a corpus fund of Rs 25 cr is going to result in blocking of the money (File Photo)

Some of the draft regulations issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for deemed-to-be universities earlier this month have not gone down well with the institutions. The regulations include keeping a tab on fee structures of various courses and prohibiting donation or capitation fee, and making it mandatory for these universities to keep a considerable corpus fund aside, to be used for development purposes.

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As per the draft regulations, any donation or capitation fee is strictly prohibited, and the fee structure should be in accordance with the guidelines by the relevant statutory body. The fee should be fixed transparently keeping in view non-profiteering. According to the new draft, the deemed-to-be universities are also expected to set aside a corpus fund of Rs 25 crore, or an amount decided by the Commission from time to time.

The norm that has attracted the most criticism is about the fixed tenure of the Chancellor, which should be for a maximum period of five years, and no reappointment. “The Chancellor of the institute in case of deemed-to-be universities is the soul of the institute, being the founder. Fixing the tenure will not really serve the purpose,” said Prof Dr G Viswanathan, founder and chancellor of Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) and president of the Education Promotion Society for India (EPSI), a national consortium of private institutions imparting education, including deemed-to-be universities. The EPSI has submitted its representation to the UGC with their contentions.

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“These regulations are discouraging for private educational institutions which are required to meet the ever rising demand in the education sector,” added Prof Viswanathan.

According to the EPSI, the condition to set aside a corpus fund of Rs 25 crore is going to result in blocking of the money, which could have been used to provide monetary help for needy meritorious students. As per the current practice, Rs 10 crore is set aside as corpus fund. While fixing fees too, the EPSI has urged the UGC to first form relevant statutory bodies across states to ensure fair practice.

“The fee structure has to be fixed based on the services provided by an institute. A generalised norm in this regard will not work,” said Prof Dr Mangesh Karad, executive president and vice chancellor of MIT-ADT University, Pune. He also shared that the Fee Regulatory Authority in Maharashtra has allowed fixing fees in this manner for professional courses.