New HRD ministry plan for allowing top colleges to award degrees

New Delhi: The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry is planning to allow some of India's best colleges and research centres to award their own degrees to students without having to depend on larger universities that they are currently affiliated to.

The colleges and research centres that will be allowed to hand out their own degrees will be chosen on the basis of age and quality of education that will be measured in terms of their accreditation rating, student performance and other similar parameters.

Colleges that are likely to be the beneficiaries of the plan by the HRD ministry include Delhi's St. Stephen College and Kolkata's St. Xavier's College. A senior government official said that these institutes will receive the limited power to award degrees on their own to students.

"Colleges will be given the power to award undergraduate degrees whereas research centres will be given the power to award postgraduate degrees," the official said.

If the proposal by the ministry is implemented, it would mean that the colleges and research centres that will be the beneficiaries of the plan will also have the power to conduct their own examinations.

However, sources have alleged that if the plan is implemented by the ministry, it might draw comparison to the concept of deemed universities which was created to provide more autonomy to institutions which also included allowing them to award their own degrees.

A Central review panel last year had found that several institutions that had been awarded the deemed university status were unfit for the tag.

Currently, only universities, institutions set up under the Acts of Parliament or state legislatures or institutions that have been recognized as deemed universities under the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act are allowed to award degrees. The new proposal by the HRD ministry would involve making amendments to the UGC Act and also a possible new legislation.

The immediate implementation of the plan was suggested in order to provide more autonomy to top colleges in the country by a panel of experts that was headed by one of India's most prominent legal education experts, N.R. Madhava Menon.

Some states have already given more autonomy to colleges. St. Xavier's College in Mumbai now had the power to award undergraduate degrees.

Former UGC Chairman Yash Pal called the HRD ministry's plans a positive move and said that top institutions in the country can be given more than just degree awarding powers.