Lok Sabha Question No. 380 (STARRED), answered on 2023-03-27
Subject: Rating of Universities
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Sajda Ahmed

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 380 ANSWERED ON 27.03.2023

## Rating of Universities

## *380. SHRIMATI SAJDA AHMED:

## Will the Minister of Education be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  proposed  to  conduct  the  rating  of  the  Universities  by Government agencies, like the Quality Council of India, etc., if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  whether  the  Government  has  formulated  standard  guidelines  or  policies  for  rating  the Universities in the country including Private Universities, if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  whether  the  Government  has  taken  note  that  apart  from  National  Institutional  Ranking Framework (NIRF), many private agencies are conducting assessments of educational institutes and publishing the rating in the public domain that misleads the students;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the action taken/ being taken by the Government in this regard;
- (e) whether the Government has noticed that private colleges and universities ranked by NIRF charge  exorbitant  fees  and  are  out  of  reach  for  poor  students  in  this  regard,  if  so,  the  details thereof; and
- (f) the details of the foreign universities that opened their centres in the country during the last three years, State-wise?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF EDUCATION

## (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

- (a) to (f): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) to (f) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  380  FOR  27.03.2023  ASKED  BY  SHRIMATI  SAJDA AHMED,  HON'BLE  MEMBER  OF  PARLIAMENT  REGARDING  RATING  OF UNIVERSITIES

(a)to (d): Over  the years there has been increasing emphasis  on  the Assessment  and Accreditation (A&A) of HEIs. Accreditation of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) has been categorically  emphasized upon in the National  Education Policy  (NEP), 2020.  The NEP also envisions  providing  full  autonomy  to  all  Higher  Education  Institutions  through  attainment  of suitable  accreditations,  establishment  of  stage-wise  mechanism  for  granting  graded  autonomy and to make accreditation a binary process as per the extant global practice.

Initially established by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) under the provisions of section 10(u) of AICTE Act in 1994 and now an Autonomous organization since 7th  January,  2010,  the  National  Board  of  Accreditation  (NBA)  undertakes  accreditation  of programs in technical disciplines i.e., Engineering and Technology, Management, Architecture, Pharmacy  and  Hospitality,  etc.  After  taking  into  consideration  the  specificities  of  the  Indian Higher Education system, a need was felt to establish an-independent institutional framework to undertake the tasks relating to institution/ university rankings and carefully identify the attributes to  be  adopted  for  rankings  of  Indian  institutions/universities.  Thereafter,  the  Government launched the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) on 29 th September, 2015 in India to  rank  Indian  Institutions  on  the  basis  of  a  set  of  objective  parameters  and  a  transparent process.The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has also been established under  Section  12ccc  of  the  UGC  Act,  1956  for  assessment  and  accreditation  of  HEIs  and Universities. The Government is also aware that there are certain private agencies conducting the ranking exercise of HEIs.

(e): The State Universities and Private Universities are established by the State Legislation and the  fee  is  decided  either  by  the  State  Government  /  State  Fee  Regulatory  Committee  or  the University  concerned  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  their  Acts  and  Statutes.  The  fee structure in Deemed to be Universities is decided by the Institutions themselves in accordance with the UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2019 , which provides that:

- (i) No capitation fee or donation should be accepted;
- (ii) The fee should be declared in the prospectus and charged in accordance with the declaration in the prospectus;
- (iii) The fee should not be charged without proper receipt in writing;
- (iv) The fee for admission test shall not be charged more than the reasonable cost incurred in conducting such test.

For  fee  regulation  in  AICTE  approved  institutes,  the  AICTE  has  fixed  minimum  and maximum  fees per annum  to be charged by these institutions, on the basis of the recommendations of the  National  Fee  Committee  (NFC)  headed  by  Justice  (Retd.)  Srikrishna with some modifications.

As  per  information  received  from  Ministry  of  Health  and  Family  Welfare,  the  matter regarding fixation of fee for medical courses comes under the purview of respective State Fee Regulatory  Committee.  Section  10  of  National  Medical  Commission  Act,  2019  provides  for framing of guidelines for determination of fees and all other charges in respect of fifty percent of seats in private medical institutions and deemed to be universities which are governed under the provisions of the Act. Accordingly, National Medical Commission has framed the guidelines and the same was issued on 03.02.2022.

(f):    Two  universities  from  Australia  have  submitted  proposals  for  setting  up  their  campus  in India.

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