
New UGC rules are a disaster; education needs to go back to State List
While the bid to centralise authority in education is needless in India, the model is not followed worldwide where most varsities are self-governing bodies
That Indian higher education needs surgical corrections, is a well-established, long lamented reality. However, the recent draft of guidelines introduced by the University Grants Commission (UGC), instead of addressing the malady, have opened the doors to a multi-dimensional disaster.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan recently launched a combination of regulations and guidelines – Draft University Grants Commission (UGC) Regulations, 2025 – to replace the existing UGC rules. Objections to the regulations have risen on two fundamental grounds – that they are a threat to federal rights and fear of erosion of standards at all levels of the university system.
Why south states are crying foul?
Southern states have fiercely opposed the guidelines, especially criticising the rule which gives more power to chancellors or visitors – who are mostly governors of states– in the appointment of vice chancellors of universities. The governments of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka have opposed the guidelines, citing a “direct assault on state rights” and “an overreach by the Centre”.
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The Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a resolution moved by Chief Minister MK Stalin, registering strong opposition to the draft regulations on the grounds that they would affect the robust education system in the state and “ruin” universities. All political parties, except the BJP, supported it.
Stalin also wrote to his counterparts in non-BJP ruled states urging them to pass similar resolutions.
Kerala too has expressed its strong rejection of the guidelines and is holding a convention of other states for the purpose.
Chancellor’s supremacy
The guidelines give the governor-cum-chancellor the power to appoint a three-member selection committee, with the chancellor’s nominee also being the panel’s chairperson. This leaves the state government with no say in the appointment of the selection committee.
Earlier, the chancellor used to appoint the vice-chancellor from a panel recommended by a search-cum-selection committee, whose composition is usually defined in the Act of the university concerned. The only related proviso was that one member of the committee was to be nominated by the UGC chairperson.
States spend, Centre gets the say
In short, under the new proposed rules, the Centre now gets all the power to appoint its nominees as vice-chancellors in state-run, state-funded universities even though 85 per cent of the revenue expenditure on education is incurred by states.
Also read: Why making the governor sole authority in VCs selection is patently wrong
And with governors of today playing as Centre’s representatives, the prospect of universities being controlled by the Centre through them is a danger that looms large. Fears of communalisation of universities are legitimate too.
Questions on eligibility criteria
The draft guidelines also threaten to target the basic character and role of universities, namely setting high standards and constant enhancement of standards.
Qualifications set for almost each post in the university system, from assistant professor to vice-chancellor, suffer lowering, in the name of widening the field of choice.
The education minister said: “By promoting flexibility, inclusivity and recognising diverse talents, we are paving the way for a dynamic academic future for India.” Are these tall claims truly justified or do they seriously compromise specialisation and focussed expertise in respective fields of knowledge?
The role of the vice-chancellor requires deep academic expertise and understanding of the higher education system. Earlier, candidates for the vice chancellor’s position were required to be distinguished academics, with at least 10 years of experience as professor at a university or in a prominent research or academic-administrative role, demonstrating academic leadership.
Also read | 'New UGC norms one more nail in coffin of higher education': Academic Apoorvanand
The eligibility criteria in the new draft regulations include individuals with experience of industry, public administration and public policy, thus raising serious concerns about universities being citadels of knowledge seeking and knowledge dissemination.
Education shouldn’t be centralised
The new guidelines will also amend the norms for hiring faculty members in universities allowing people having a postgraduate degree in one discipline to directly get recruited to the assistant professor level in a related discipline, thereby compromising deeper specialisation in the area of knowledge.
Centralisation of authority in education in any country is unacceptable. In a country of immense cultural, linguistic and historical diversity like India, it is unpardonable, suicidal. The New Education Policy, 2020 constantly holds up global standards for us to measure up to.
Education is the least centralised of governance realms in any educationally advanced country, with not only state governments, but local governments too having considerable authority.
Also read: UGC draft rules: After non-BJP-ruled states, NDA ally JD(U) sees red
The powers entrusted to the governor in appointing the selection committee for vice-chancellors are unheard of in the university systems in the world. Universities the world over are self-governing bodies, with a board of trustees of scholars, alumni, teachers and donors.
Slow takeover of federal rights?
The nation-wide discussion on the present revised guidelines, however, must be understood as nothing sudden, but a continuation of an insufferable trend of centralisation of all powers in education going on for a long time. The National Education Policy, 2020 was an important watershed in the slide down, but much of it was facilitated by the shifting of education from the State List to the Concurrent List during Emergency in 1977. Today it is sliding down further with education virtually entering the Central List.
The national endeavour today should be directed to transfer education as a whole, from school to university levels back, to the pre-Emergency State List, as enshrined in the Constitution.