The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has been granted the status of ‘deemed university’, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced on Friday.
“NCERT has been granted the status of deemed university today. It has established a formidable presence in research, actively shaped school education, teacher training and adult literacy. Now this deemed university status will enable the council to become an advanced research university in the future,” Pradhan said during a celebration to mark the 63rd foundation day of NCERT, in Delhi.
“The council will now be able to have academic collaboration with the top national and international universities,” he added.
Prior to attaining the status, NCERT was offering graduate and post-graduate programmes for teachers’ training and capacity building at its seven Regional Institute of Education (REI) centres in affiliation with local universities. The REIs could introduce a new course only after getting approval from their affiliated universities, including Barkatullah University (Bhopal), M D S University (Ajmer), University of Mysore, Utkal University (Bhubaneshwar) and North-Eastern Hill University (Shillong).
The ‘deemed university’ status will now allow NCERT to offer its own graduate, post-graduate and doctoral degrees and have autonomy in terms of introduction of programmes, course structure, conducting examinations and management, among others.
In September last year, NCERT had approached the University Grants Commission (UGC) seeking ‘deemed university’ status. The council had applied in the “de novo” category.
{{/usCountry}}In September last year, NCERT had approached the University Grants Commission (UGC) seeking ‘deemed university’ status. The council had applied in the “de novo” category.
{{/usCountry}}According to UGC rules, institutes which specialise in unique and emerging areas of knowledge are granted the ‘deemed university’ status under the “de novo”’ category.
Emphasising the need to develop content in mother tongue, Pradhan suggested setting up of Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence labs in all seven regional centers of NCERT.
“To make India the global hub of research and innovation, these centres should be equipped with the latest technologies from around the world with future-ready infrastructure,” he said.