Tag: UGC

Young faculties present proposals for research

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BHUBANESWAR: The higher education department has shortlisted 106 research proposals from young faculties of different government colleges and universities to carry out research after getting seed fund from the state government. A technical selection committee with subject experts has started interviewing the faculties from Friday.

The faculties will present their papers in favour of their research ideas before the committee. This process will continue till March 24. After going through the presentations, the committee will select 40 faculties for the seed fund of Rs 5 lakh, said higher education minister Arun Kumar Sahoo here on Friday.

These candidates had applied between December last year and January this year. As many as 166 faculties had applied for seed fund this year. The selection committee has found 13 of them ineligible. Research papers of 153 faculties were sent for external review. Only 106 research proposals were shortlisted for the final interview starting from Friday.

According to the policy guidelines of ‘Odisha University Research and Innovation Incentivisation Plan (OURIIP)’ framed by the state government in November 2018, a seed funding of Rs 5 lakh will be given to each faculty member for research work. Each year 40 faculties will be provided with such funding, said the minister.

He said any young faculty below 45 years with a PhD degree and working in a regular capacity in state universities and colleges (government and aided) under higher education department and also in state government technical colleges/universities under skill development and technical education department can apply for this seed funding.

The proposal should be based on new and innovative ideas, use of an appropriate methodology to address the research problems, proper budgetary estimation and outcome of the project. They will publish their research articles in a reputed Scopus Indexed journal. Now 37 faculties are undertaking research on different proposals approved by the department in November 2019.

The department has also received 52 applications for junior research fellowship from some selected national eligibility test (NET) qualified scholars, who have failed to get junior research fellow (JRF) awarded by the University Grants Commission (UGC) or Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Out of 52 scholars, 16 are shortlisted for the fellowship this year.

The minister said the period of fellowship will be limited to four years, extendable to another one year with the prior approval of the OSHEC. “An eligible candidate can get fellowship of Rs 15000 per month with a contingency of Rs 25000 per year for subjects having laboratory work and Rs 15000 for subjects without laboratory work. The number of fellowships in each subject is limited to five with two fellowships reserved for girl students. That means 40 per cent seats for fellowship is reserved for girl scholars,” he added.

The scholars will also take three classes every week. “A total of 175 scholars can be selected for the fellowship each year. It will be given in 35 subjects. The candidate must be below 35 years of age to get this fellowship,” said Sahoo.



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‘Common entrance test for central universities to take off soon’

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NEW DELHI: Multiple exit and entry scheme, technical courses in regional languages and common entrance for central universities are going to be some of the National Education Policy 2020 plans which will be implemented from this year. A 40-member implementation committee under the secretary of higher education is making the annual plans and ensuring its implementation. Amit Khare, secretary, higher education speaks to the TOI on the implementation strategy for the 2021-22 academic session.

What is the implementation plan in 2021-22?

NEP 2020 will be implemented in phases as all the higher educational institutions are not at the same level. One size fits all will not be there. Every State and university will move in the direction of NEP, but not necessarily together. For the 2021-22 academic session, we are planning about 10 new activities.

The academic bank of credit that will be ready by May-June. The outcome of the academic bank of credit will be multiple entry and exit schemes, but in the same institutions within three years. The ultimate goal is to have cluster universities where people can move from one university to another with the academic bank of credit, but not right now since the credits and their scores of different institutions including IITs are different. Third initiative is the National Research Foundation for which the approval of expenditure from the finance committee has already come. Hopefully NRF will also be in place in April or May.

What is the status of common entrance test for central universities?


The CUCET is almost ready. It will be conducted by NTA and computer based. The only issue under discussion with the UGC is the weightage. If the weightage of CUCET is kept high, then students will not take interest in school exams. Even Delhi University is thinking on those lines and looking into how much weightage should be given to class XII. Within class XII also different boards have different levels of giving marks. So, what will be the system of normalising is something that has been worked out. CUCET will only be for undergraduate programmes. Postgraduate admissions will continue as before.


The government has announced technical education in regional languages? When is it going to start? Also are the four-year-undergraduate programmes to start from 2021?

For the first year engineering courses, we are developing them in regional languages. This will be in addition to classroom teaching, which will go on in English as usual. For better understanding the students can also read the same thing in their regional language from 2021.

The four-year degree programme will take some time to develop because it is not about adding one more year to the three year and call it a four-year programme. Some will continue to offer three-year programmes for those who need not have a research oriented course.

From 2021 the four-year programme is not likely to start on a large scale. Institutions like Institutions of Eminence, which includes some of the universities like Delhi University, if they are able to design a new course then they can offer. But, if some university is thinking they will just add one year, that will not be the right way.


When is the Higher Education Commission of India Bill to be introduced?


The bill may come in the monsoon session or even later. The draft is ready. We are having discussions with UGC, AICTE and other bodies. Thereafter we will send it to all the universities because HECI will affect even the state universities and private universities. Like NEP, for HECI too we will have all India consultations because there are many issues such as should we have a centralized HECI in Delhi or should we have some regional branches, can some part of the accreditation be done regionally, what should be the structure? What representation should be given to state and private universities? Right now we are having consultation within the Central government. Next stage will be consultations with all state universities, private universities, governors who are Chancellors, and in many places the state education ministers are pro-Chancellors.



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UGC frames draft regulations for dual, twinning, joint degrees with foreign varsities

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The University Grants Commission (UGC) has invited views from stakeholders on the draft regulations on “an academic collaboration between Indian and foreign higher education institutions to offer a joint degree, dual degree, and twinning programmes”. The stakeholders can send their suggestions till March 5 at ugcforeigncollaboration@gmail.com.

UGC in an official notice states, “Budget announcement of 2021 proposed regulatory mechanism to permit dual degrees, joint degrees and twinning arrangements”. This is also in line with the NEP 2020 which seeks more collaborations between institutes internationally.

“Accordingly, UGC constituted a Committee to frame enabling Regulations in these regards. The draft UGC (Academic collaboration between Indian and foreign Higher Education Institutions to offer Joint Degree, Dual Degree and Twinning Programme) Regulations, 2O21 are hereby placed in the public domain,” it added.

Read | No field visits, regular counselling, online classes: What UGC says about reopening colleges

As per the draft guidelines, Indian higher education institutes in the top 100 in University category of National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) or institutions of eminence can collaborate wth top 500 institutes in THE or QS World University ranking.

“If an Indian higher education institution issues an advertisement that it is offering a degree/diploma from a foreign higher education institution and if such collaboration does not have the approval of the Commission, the Commission shall conduct a preliminary inquiry and on completion of its inquiry, the commission shall initiate appropriate penal action against the Indian Higher Education Institution,” states the draft guidelines

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UGC Asks Universities to Urge Students to Appear for Cow Science Online Exam; Date, Syllabus Here

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The University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked educational institutes to urge students to appear for the countrywide ‘Kamdhenu Gau Vigyan Prachar Prasar Examination’ online examination on ‘gau vigyan’ (cow science) on February 25. There will be no fee for the examination.

Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog (RKA), a commission under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, announced in January that it will be conducting the cow science exam and it will be held annually.

The exam will be held in 12 regional languages apart from Hindi and English and will have multiple-choice questions. The exam duration will be one hour and will be conducted in four categories — primary (up to class 8), secondary (class 9- 12), college, and general public.

RKA Chairman Vallabhbhai Kathiria had called the exams essential for raising mass awareness about indigenous cows among young students and every other citizen.

The Aayog said the exam syllabus and reference books on cows will be recommended on the official RKA website and will help candidates prepare for the exam.

“Blogs, videos and other selected reading material will be uploaded on official website at kamdhenu.gov.in. Scientists, entrepreneurs, Gau Sevaks, farmers, youth and women as well as senior citizens will actively work to make this mega event a grand success,” the Ministry said.

The exam will be conducted in an impartial manner and participants will be given prizes and certificates. “Questions will be set in such a way that during the online exam there will be no scope for any maneuvering. Results will be immediately declared on the website of RKA. Certificates will be given to all. Successful meritorious candidates will be given prizes and certificates afterwards. Appreciation letters will be issued to all those who help in organizing this exam,” it said.

RKA Chairman had urged Vice-Chancellors in December 2020 to start ‘Kamdhenu Chair’ in every university and college. “We need to educate the youth about agriculture, health, social, economic and environmental importance of our indigenous cows,” Vallabhbhai Kathiria said.

The RKA was set up by the Central government in February 2019, and is aimed at “conservation, protection and development of cows and their progeny”.



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College, universities in Uttar Pradesh to reopen from Monday

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All colleges and universities in Uttar Pradesh will reopen from February 15, news agency ANI reported. The colleges and universities in the state have been shut since March as one of the measures announced by the government to fight against Covid-19 pandemic. However, the reopened universities will be different.

Universities and colleges in UP, like every other higher education institute in India, will follow Covid-19 protocol. This means, wearing masks, maintaining social distancing norms will be mandatory. The institutes will have to sanitise properly before reopening. Attendance in the universities and colleges will not be mandatory and online classes will continue, as per the UGC.

Colleges and universities across the country have started reopening and the University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued special guidelines for such higher education institutes.

Aming guidelines, UGC has asked colleges to mandate regular visits of a counsellor to ensure mental wellness and stress-free campuses. Universities and colleges have also been asked to restrict the outside experts on campuses, study tours, field works etc.

Further, not more than 50 per cent of the total students should be present at any point of time. Preference will be given to students of all research programmes and postgraduate students in science and technology programmes. For the rest of the streams, and foreign students, online classes will continue, as per guidelines.



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