New norms for release of funds to universities

Varsities' executive councils to now approve release of funds, instead of a UGC inspection team.

Updated on: Jan 2, 2012, 24:50:25 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

Getting funds for Indian universities without getting clearance from the institution’s executive council and mandatory accreditation would become difficult from the next financial year.

India’s higher education regulator, the University Grants Commission, has altered the funding scheme for universities from April 2012, which is also the mean commencement of the 12th five-year plan.

Instead of mandatory inspections, which often lead to delay in release of funds, the UGC will decide allocations for the entire plan period as soon as it receives the proposal cleared by the university’s highest decision-making body, the executive council.

For instance, if the Physics department of the Delhi University wants money to upgrade its laboratory in the 12th plan, it will submit a proposal to the university. The university will then get it cleared first from the board of studies, then academic council, followed by finance committee and finally, the executive council. Once that is done, the UGC will allocate funds to the Physics department as per its total money allocation for the 12th plan. No one from the UGC will visit the department to evaluate the proposal.

“Discontinuation of sending expert committee to assess financial requirements will help the universities prepare perspective plans in a more democratic manner,” UGC chairperson Ved Prakash said.

As per the existing practice of more than four decades, the university used to submit a finance proposal to the UGC, which then deputed a team of experts to conduct an inspection. Depending on the remarks of the inspection report, the decision on the release of money was taken.

In cases of adverse reports the UGC used to get the inspection conducted again, resulting in delay in release of funds. There were also allegations of corruption in the entire system.

The UGC, as per the decision last week, stipulated new norms to monitor of utilisation of the money given through self disclosures and participation of students and faculty.

Another related decision with disbursement of funds was mandatory accreditation. No funds will be released without accreditation from a recognised agency such as National Assessment and Accreditation Council. “Accreditation has been made must,” Prakash said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.