Chennai
At present, higher education is regulated by UGC and more than 10 professional councils, including the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Bar Council of India. The New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 had proposed to change UGC as Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) and its schemes were expected to be changed from 2021-22 academic year.
However, due to the late implementation of NEP, the UGC schemes would be extended till next March, said a senior official from the Higher Education Department.
The council is implementing more than 30 schemes, including open online courses, women studies in higher educational institutions, UGC research awards, scholarships for UG and PG students, UGC chairs in universities and human resources development centres.
The decision to extend schemes and programmes by a year was taken in a recent meeting held among the authorities in the central education department, the official said. “After continuing UGC programmes for another year, the NEP will review all the UGC schemes implemented and make amendments according to the latest needs,” the official said.
Students who take up programmes that run for more than one year would have to complete them under the existing norms. However, from 2022 academic year, students would have to undergo the schemes as per the provisions of NEP, he said.
“Even existing funding support to universities for study and research in indigenous and endangered languages of the country will have certain amendments under NEP,” the official added.
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