UGC rules on UG, PG: A case for ‘liberating’ autonomous colleges from universities

Recently, the University Grants Commission (UGC) published the Draft (Minimum Standards of Instruction for the Grant of Undergraduate Degree and Postgraduate Degree) Regulations, 2024.

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The draft is open for feedback from stakeholders. The draft democratizes higher education in terms of its flexibility, mobility, assessment patterns, curriculum design, and vocationalization. Therefore, it is imperative to redefine our education policy in tune with the skill gap and economy's demand so that the workforce can be transformed.Educational policies are periodically revised to suit changing demography, socio-cultural context and socio-economic developments. The deficit in skilled workforce having socio-economic implications and the emergence of knowledge-based economy demands the redefining of the curriculum and the pedagogy. For instance, in recent times, we have been hearing about the decline in enrolment in conventional degree programmes in liberal arts and science colleges and the closure of degree programmes that do not run successfully in reputed universities in India and abroad indicating the need for reimagining the tertiary education landscape.

According to a Dell Technologies report, 85% of the jobs in 2030 that Generation Z and Alpha would embrace have not been invented yet. In addition, as per the world Economic Forum report, 65% of primary-school children today will be working in job types that do not exist yet. Having set the context for the need for education policy, it is our duty to critically analyse the pros and cons of the UGC draft for the minimum standards to be complied with from a neutral perspective.