Vague guidelines dilute significance of deemed universities

The idea of a deemed university was first mooted by the Radhakrishnan Commission right after independence in 1948 and it was felt that these universities will contribute majorly to the cause of India’s higher education.

However, getting the status of a deemed university was not easy and in the early days they were a rarity. In the 1980s, even though some of the rules were relaxed and  18 deemed universities came up, it was only post 1990s that there was a sudden spurt in the figures of varsities earning the “deemed” tag.

A deemed university gets its recognition under University Grants Commission (UGC) Act of 1956 but the guidelines for becoming one remain vague.

According to Section 3 of this Act, the Central government may, on the advice of the commission, declare, by notification in the official gazette, that any institution for higher education, other than a university, shall be deemed to be a university for the purposes of this Act, and on such a declaration being made, all the provisions of this Act shall apply to such institution as if it were  a university within the meaning of Clause (f) of Section 2.

Section 2’s clause (f) states: “‘University’ means a university established or incorporated by or under a central act, a provincial act or a state act, and includes any such institution as may, in consultation with the university concerned, be recognised by the commission in accordance with the regulations made in this behalf under this Act.”

The status entails autonomy in deciding courses, syllabi and teaching methodology; there will be administrative autonomy; degrees can be granted without affiliation to any other university. It also says that a deemed university cannot be an affiliating university; it cannot purely be engaged in teaching. There must be research. Also, deemed universities will get funds through the UGC.

Most institutes now becoming deemed universities are colleges earlier affiliated to universities. They are keen to become deemed universities because it takes matters like fee structure and other academic issues outside the purview of the state legislatures. This has affected the quality of education, while fees have continued to rise.

There is no authentic document providing a concrete definition of the concept of deemed universities. The decisions to declare these institutions deemed has been made purely on an ad hoc basis. Some time back, the UGC formulated certain norms to identify the appropriate institutions for conferring the status of ‘deemed to be a university’. But, several aspects of this most innovative section of the UGC Act remain undefined and unclear.
At any rate, the intention of the Section 3 of the UGC Act is to confer this distinction on selected few institutions. But the rapidity with which the number of deemed universities are springing up seems to indicate otherwise.