AIDSO urges UGC to withdraw ‘undemocratic’ draft policy for faculty recruitment

NEW DELHI: The All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO) has urged the University Grants Commission (UGC) to withdraw its ‘undemocratic’ draft and continue with the existing criteria for faculty recruitment in universities and colleges.

The AIDSO request to revert to the existing UGC policy comes days after Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched the draft UGC regulations for faculty recruitment in higher educational institutions (HEIs).

As per the new UGC policy, there is no cap on contractual teacher appointments. It also allows heads of industry, PSUs to apply for vice-chancellor recruitment.

UGC draft: ‘Dangerous regulation’

Terming it a ‘dangerous regulation’ that will allow individuals from non-academic background to become university vice-chancellors, the central council said: “According to the new draft regulations proposed by the UGC, individuals with a minimum of 10 years of experience in senior positions in industries, public administration, policymaking, or government-owned institutions, along with significant academic contributions, can be appointed as university vice-chancellors.”

Furthermore, several teachers also expressed their disagreement with the new UGC draft 2025 and deemed it dangerous for job security, academic standards, and fair employment practices.

“This is an attempt to snatch away the autonomy and democratic rights of universities and hand over the administration of universities to businesspersons, officials, and government representatives who have no connection with students or universities and are only capable of profit-loss calculations,” the council added.

AIDSO also described the new UGC draft as a highly ‘anti-educational move’ by the government, adding that the new draft also mentions exempting candidates with at least 55% marks in ME or MTech from the National Eligibility Test (NET) and directly appointing them as assistant professors.