UGC issues draft guidelines to transform all HEIs into multidisciplinary institutions

The draft rules recommend several measures to transform existing institutions, including academic collaboration between them through clusters, merger of several single-stream institutions, and addition of more departments to existing institutions.

Higher education institutions in India will have to transform themselves into multidisciplinary universities by strengthening institutional infrastructure geared towards research and education, in line with the national education policy of 2020, according to draft guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission on Saturday.

India seeks to establish a large multidisciplinary higher education institution in or near every district by 2030. (HT FILE)

India seeks to establish a large multidisciplinary higher education institution in or near every district by 2030. The higher education regulator has sought public feedback on the proposed guidelines by March 20.

The draft rules recommend several measures to transform existing institutions, including academic collaboration between them through clusters, merger of several single-stream institutions, and addition of more departments to existing institutions.

Emphasizing that the culture of establishing and sustaining multidisciplinary institutes is increasing fast internationally, the guidelines state that the higher educational system in India should phase out stand-alone, fragmented and domain-specific institutions.

The draft guidelines envisage three types of multidisciplinary institutions — research-intensive universities, teaching-intensive universities, and degree-awarding autonomous colleges.

The regulator has suggested that the multidisciplinary universities would have 3,000 or more students. By 2035, all affiliated colleges should become degree-awarding autonomous institutions by passing through different stages of autonomy, or by completing the process of becoming part of a cluster to become a large multidisciplinary institute.

The draft guidelines call for collaboration between the institutes to offer dual degrees. Under this arrangement, the single-stream institutions can integrate their programmes with those of nearby multidisciplinary institutions.

“Such a new and novel educational architecture will help and strengthen the structure of multidisciplinary education and achieve what has been envisioned in the NEP 2020,” the proposed guidelines said.

For offering dual-degree programmes, the physical proximity of the institutions should be such that they can share physical and human resources, and ensure easier student and faculty mobility.

Under the collaborative system, students can pursue their first degree from one institute and a second degree from another institution. Upon completing the programme, they will either receive a degree by their parent college indicating the courses undertaken at the partner institution, or they will be awarded the dual degree jointly by the partnering institutions. In case of collaboration between two colleges of the same university, the affiliating university will award the degree, the guidelines propose.

The proposed guidelines further recommend forming clusters of single-stream colleges with poor enrolment due to lack of innovative multidisciplinary courses and lack of financial resources. State governments will continue to provide the same funds to government-aided colleges as they had been doing before the cluster formed, the regulator suggested.

The commission emphasised that the collaborations, mergers and opening of the new departments will be done only after taking approval of the concerned regulatory body and the Academic Councils of these higher education institutes.