Left demands UGC norms withdrawal; chairman says draft aligns with global trends
The recent draft guidelines on faculty recruitment and promotions in higher education released by the University Grants Commission on Monday face criticism
New Delhi: Opposition-ruled states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu have opposed the recent draft guidelines on faculty recruitment and promotions in higher education released by the University Grants Commission (UGC) on Monday.
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which is in power in Kerala, said the draft norms’ provisions related to vice-chancellor (VC) appointments are a “direct assault on the rights of states.”
Kerala’s higher education minister, R. Bindu, described the draft regulations as “an overreach by the central government, rendering states powerless in the higher education sector.”
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Tuesday announced plans to legally challenge the governor’s authority over VC appointments.
Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday released the draft of the ‘University Grants Commission (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment and Promotion of Teachers and Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2025.’
The draft norms have fixed the role of the chancellor as chairperson in a three-member search-cum-selection panel and opened VC positions to non-academics as well.
UGC will accept comments and feedback from stakeholders on the draft before February 5.
UGC chairman Jagadesh Kumar dismissed the allegations of granting governors broader control over VC appointments.
He said the latest draft guidelines on faculty appointments provide “greater clarity” about the role of the chancellor in selecting the vice-chancellor. He also said the move to open VC positions to non-academics is “in line with global trends in higher education.”
The new draft regulations, a revision of the 2018 UGC regulations on faculty appointments and promotions in universities, allow a search-cum-selection committee of three to five members, including a UGC chairperson nominee, to select VCs, but the rules do not specify the role of members.
The new draft rules limit the panel to three members: a nominee of the visitor or chancellor as chairperson of the panel, a UGC chairperson nominee, and a nominee from the university’s apex body.
“The guideline gives the governor-cum-chancellor the power to appoint the three-member selection committee, in which the chancellor’s nominee will also be the chairperson. This is happening in the background of governors acting arbitrarily in appointing vice-chancellors in some opposition-ruled states. The state government will have no say in who is appointed to the selection committee. Through these guidelines, the centre can appoint vice-chancellors of its choice in all state-run universities through the governors-cum-chancellors,” CPI(M) said in a statement while demanding withdrawal.
The party also appealed to non-BJP state governments to oppose “this dangerous provision.”
In the past, opposition-ruled states including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala have witnessed conflict between governors and state governments over VC appointments in state universities.
Calling the new UGC draft guidelines “unacceptable to Kerala”, Bindu added, “We will send a letter to the UGC and the central government to express our opposition to the new UGC draft. The reforms being introduced are against federal principles. Efforts are being made to use the UGC for communalisation and polarisation. Kerala will explore legal avenues as well.”
If the draft guidelines are implemented, “extreme communalists may be appointed as vice-chancellors,” she said.
In May 2021, the Kerala government amended the University Act to reduce the governor’s authority in appointing vice-chancellors, transferring these powers to the state government.
In November 2021, the state government recommended Gopinath Ravindran’s reappointment as vice-chancellor of Kannur University, which former Kerala governor Arif Mohammad Khan approved as he was “pressured by the office of the chief minister.” However, in November 2023, the Supreme Court quashed Ravindran’s reappointment to the post after an elected member of the Kannur University Senate had challenged his reappointment notification.
“The role of the chancellor or visitor has been disproportionately enlarged in the draft UGC guidelines 2025. State governments and the university will have no role in the appointment of VCs, as the UGC nominee and the Chancellor—both appointees of the Centre—will have total control over the appointment of VCs. There will be a tussle as states will see it as an infringement on their rights,” said Ravindran, former vice-Chancellor of Kannur University and now a professor at Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi.
Describing the UGC draft guidelines as “unilaterally unconstitutional”, Stalin said, “Education must remain in the hands of those chosen by the people, not dictated by Governors acting at the BJP government’s behest... This overreach is unacceptable, and Tamil Nadu will fight it legally and politically.”
At least five state-run universities in Tamil Nadu are without a vice-chancellor due to the standoff between the governor and government. In 2022, the state had passed a bill in the assembly to clip the powers of the governor to appoint a VC and vest it with the government.
Responding to allegations of providing more power to governors in VC appointments, UGC head Kumar said, “It was always the chancellor who appoints the vice-chancellor of a university. In the new draft regulations, we have made it very clear that the chancellor will form the search-cum-selection committee. It was not there in the 2018 regulations. Our regulations do not say who is the chancellor. I see no controversy in this regard. So, there is greater clarity rather than controversy.”
The new UGC draft guidelines have proposed opening vice-chancellor positions to industry experts and public sector veterans alongside traditional academicians. The 2018 regulations had limited the post of VCs to those with proven records in academics.
Sanjay Chaudhary, associate professor at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University, Ayodhya, said, “We are witnessing that people with no academic excellence record, but good political connections, are being appointed as vice-chancellors in universities by governors. This is leading to a fall in education quality as these VCs are unable to focus on improving the academic environment.”
Arun Kumar, general secretary of All India Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organizations (AIFUCTO), added, “In the name of a multidisciplinary approach, the government wants to appoint their favourite people as VCs to run universities. This is absurd and will harm higher education in India.”
Kumar said that the VC post has been opened to industry experts and others to find outstanding leaders to run the universities.
“The leadership is independent of which system you have managed. Leadership qualities are the same across the board; only the context will change. It could be academics, it could be a banking system, or some other complex system. We have expanded the scope for finding good leadership qualities so that outstanding VCs can be appointed to manage the universities. This is also a global practice. The first vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi, Gopalaswami Parthasarathi, was a diplomat. He was not an academician,” Kumar said.
FACULTY APPOINTMENTS
The new UGC regulations have also replaced the Academic Performance Indicators (API) system, which primarily focused on journal publications, with a broader framework that evaluates teachers based on their “notable contributions” across nine categories for teacher recruitment and promotion. These categories include areas such as “teaching contributions in Indian languages” and “teaching-learning and research in Indian Knowledge Systems.”
At the entry-level position of assistant professor, candidates will be eligible even if they do not clear the National Eligibility Test (NET), provided they meet one of two criteria --- a four-year undergraduate degree with a minimum of 75% marks along with a PhD or a postgraduate degree equivalent to an ME or MTech with a minimum of 55% marks (or an equivalent grade).
“The new UGC draft regulations, if implemented, will worsen the crisis in higher education. Now, the selection committees will look at extra-curricular activities for appointments and promotions. It is nothing but a dilution of teachers’ recruitment requirements. It will further weaken teaching and learning in universities,” said Moushumi Basu, president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA).
Seema Das, a member of Delhi University’s Executive Council (EC) from the Aam Aadmi Party’s teachers’ wing, Academics for Action and Development Delhi Teachers’ Association (AADTA), criticised the move.
She argued that allowing entry into teaching at the university level with only a UG degree and PhD would dilute the quality of education. “PG courses comprise very advanced concepts of any subject. A teacher without a PG degree may lack the necessary expertise, which will be an injustice to students and academics at large,” she said.
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Kumar countered, stating that the notion that only candidates with PG and NET qualifications can teach undergraduate students is “outdated.”
He explained, “The global practice is that if someone has a four-year undergraduate degree and a PhD, they are well qualified to become an assistant professor in a university. Earlier, there was no four-year UG programme, so candidates were required to complete a two-year master’s after their three-year UG course and then clear UGC-NET to qualify for an assistant professor position. Now, with the introduction of four-year UG programmes, we also need to make these degrees aspirational for students. At a young age, they will complete their PhD and contribute to high-quality research.”