UGC extends deadline for feedback on 2025 draft regulations to February 28
DMK students wing organised a protest against the draft of UGC guidelines 2025 at Jantar Mantar on Thursday, where Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav criticised the Centre
New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Thursday extended the deadline to submit feedback on its 2025 UGC draft regulations to February 28, a day after six non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states passed a resolution rejecting the draft UGC regulations, arguing that the proposed rules undermine the autonomy of state governments. Earlier, the deadline was February 5.
“In view of requests received from stakeholders to extend the last date to submit feedback on the draft UGC Regulations 2025, UGC has now decided to extend the last date to February 28, 2025. Stakeholders can submit feedback on the draft regulations till 28/02/2025 at the following email address: draft-regulations@ugc.gov.in,” UGC said in a statement.
The UGC regulations on faculty recruitment and promotions in higher education, introduced by union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on January 6, stipulate that the chancellor or visitor of a university will establish a three-member search-cum-selection committee for appointing vice-chancellors.
Under this framework, the governor’s nominee would chair the committee, with the other two members appointed by the UGC chairman and the university’s apex body. This move, critics argue, significantly diminishes the role of state governments in the appointment process. The provisions allowing non-academics to be appointed as vice chancellors was also criticised.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) students wing organised a protest against the draft of UGC guidelines 2025 at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Thursday, where Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav slammed the Centre.
Gandhi said the proposed regulations on the appointment of teachers and academic staff in universities and colleges were an attempt to impose “one history, one tradition, one language” on the country. He alleged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) aimed at the “eradication of all other histories, cultures, and traditions” of the country.
Yadav alleged, “They (RSS and BJP) wanted to take over all the power of state governments. They want to make politicians servants of industrialists.”
Calling the comments made by opposition leaders “unfortunate and concerning,” Pradhan said that opposition leaders were twisting “progressive educational reforms into imaginary threats to sustain their outdated political narratives.”
“The UGC draft regulations aim to broaden horizons, not narrow them. They seek to include more voices, not silence them. They uphold institutional autonomy and our linguistic diversity. They strengthen our academic institutions, not weaken them. But perhaps these facts are too inconvenient for those who prefer rhetoric over reality,” he said in a post on X.
Pradhan added that Gandhi “invest some time in actually reading the draft regulations before launching their rehearsed political performances.”
On Wednesday, ministers from six opposition-ruled states—Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana—passed a resolution rejecting the draft UGC regulations at the end of a conclave organised by the Karnataka government. They argued that the regulations would compromise academic integrity.
