HEIs Having Facilities for Persons with Disabilities to Get Additional Weightage, Says UGC Chief

Higher Education Institutions having facilities for persons with disabilities will be given additional weightage during the accreditation process, UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar said on Tuesday. Thirteen regulatory authorities in different domains of education have also decided to issue an advisory to the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to apply for the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) recognition and set up a monitoring committee to address issues related to deemed-to-be and private universities.

The decision was taken at the inter-regulatory authority meeting hosted by the UGC on Tuesday to review the effective and timely implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020. “Weightage to be given to the universities or institutions having facilities for persons with disabilities as per RCI (Rehabilitation Council of India) guidelines in NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) accreditation criteria. All the regulators will review faculty selection or promotion guidelines and align those with UGC regulations to avoid inconsistencies,” Kumar said.

“The regulatory authorities will write to the industrial organisations associated with them, thereby requesting to nominate industry professionals to register on the professor of practice portal of the UGC,” he added. The regulators include the National Medical Council, National Commission for Indian System of Medicine, Veterinary Council of India, All India Council for Technical Education, Pharmacy Council of India, Dental Council of India, Council of Architecture, Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. They also resolved to leverage synergy of all regulators around the evolving online education space.

Kumar stressed on effective use of technology in teaching-learning and also underscored the need to introduce a module on Indian knowledge system in all disciplines. The regulators also decided to encourage the participation of faculty members in capacity building programmes being organised by Malviya Mission Centres. The programmes are being organised to review faculty selection or promotion guidelines and align these with UGC regulations to avoid inconsistencies.

The HEIs are also to get advice from their respective regulators to furnish information on the UGC UTSAH portal, detailing the initiatives being taken under the NEP.