UGC Category-1 Autonomy: State universities plan new courses but struggle with funds

NEW DELHI: Over the past few months, some of the oldest and largest state universities, such as the University of Madras, University of Mumbai, and University of Lucknow, received category-1 status from University Grants Commission (UGC) as per its “graded autonomy” regulations. Category-1 is the highest category allowed by the 2018 regulations, affording institutions so designated the maximum autonomy.

Along with the category-1 status, a National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) rating of A++ also qualifies the universities for a Rs 100-crore surplus grant.

However, many of these state universities are suffocated for funds and require steady, continuous grants from the state which they are not getting. Moreover, with UGC tying grants to NAAC ratings, teachers say that more and more state universities are being left out of the funding pool. They also see a contradiction within the central policy which pushes for greater enrolment while pushing universities to rely on student fees.

Online courses, better infrastructure

Once it acquires category-1 status, a university can start new programmes or skill courses, set up off-campus centres, open research parks or innovation centres, and hire foreign faculty – all without the approval of UGC. This is the primary benefit of this status which essentially frees universities from much of the regulatory framework.

“[It] means we don’t have to jump through hoops. Further, it has to do with branding. The kind of options we have in terms of student profile and teacher profile will change,” said Geetanjali Mishra, dean, academics, University of Lucknow.

This also allows universities to start online and distance learning programmes without having to rely on approval from UGC. Lucknow University, for instance, will be launching online BCom and BBA degree programmes from this year.

“By the time we applied for category 1, we were already finalising the process of starting online and distance learning. Now we don’t need to get any additional approval for this. We will be launching online learning soon and distance education will be launched within one year. We are actually starting with BCom and BBA and then expanding on it and moving to science, technology, engineering mathematics (STEM) courses,” said Mishra.

Universities with an A++ grade from NAAC and category-1 autonomy are also eligible for a special grant of Rs 100 crore from Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a central government scheme for supporting state institutions. While Madras University is expecting it, Lucknow University received it on February 18.

Officials said that most of this extra grant will be used to add infrastructure to cope with the growing demand. Lucknow University received 90,000 applications for about 7,500 seats, across undergraduate and postgraduate courses last year.

“Primarily, infrastructure will see this money. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 puts a greater emphasis on infrastructure. There is a requirement of more classrooms and more labs,” said Mishra. “We are also looking at having more visiting scholars. We’ve already passed regulations for starting dual degrees so we are looking at options for that. We are trying to get more research grants in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studies as well.”

Madras University’s taxes

However, not all of these universities are in a position to utilise. Madras University is currently facing an unprecedented financial crisis. The income tax department has frozen all bank accounts of Madras University citing non-payment of Rs 120 crore as tax.

“All the bank accounts are frozen at the moment. Which means that despite having A++ grade, we are facing an unprecedented financial crisis,” said PK Abdul Rahiman of Madras University Teacher’s Collective, and head of JBAS Center for Islamic Studies at University of Madras.

“There may have been some systemic administrative flaw in dealing with this. Even with that, the IT department knows this is a state university. This could have been avoided.” The university is yet to see the Rs 100 crore from RUSA.

“For us going from A to A++ was a grade jump. How this is going to affect the university is yet to be seen. The benefits of funding and the opportunities it brings in is yet to be realised,” said Rahiman.

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Lack of state funds

Madras University’s struggles point to a larger trend of governments, both state and centre, gradually withdrawing from funding higher education. For Madras University, part of the problem stems from declining state funds.

“The block grant, the annual grant that the state government was supposed to provide, has not been provided since 2017. Only about 10% of it has come in… The 100 crore will reflect as and when it comes in the research outputs and special programmes. But it is important for a state university to get other funds coming in regularly,” said Rahiman.

It is a similar story in other state universities as well. Lucknow university officials said that the university is working on a “constrained budget” since it is “low on funds from the state”.

According to Madras University teachers, the grants themselves are based on a calculation from 1996 which has not since been updated. Hence, the grants have not been proportional to the pay hikes or increase in costs, putting the university under greater financial stress.

“Every month there is a lot of struggle to mobilise the salaries,” said Rahiman. “That struggle ought to be dealt with by the government giving dues to the university which is about Rs 90 crore. The government is citing audit objections. But the objection is only to the tune of Rs 6 crore. Freezing of the account is only one part of the story.”

Grants and ratings

The RUSA grants being linked to NAAC ratings is not helping. “Linking RUSA grants to the grading system actually leaves a large number of state universities from these grants because they don’t have the NAAC score,” said Rahiman.

In June 2022, the government of Odisha even asked the education ministry to lower the NAAC rating required to receive the RUSA funds. Some academics opined that linking NAAC rating to funds drives universities to chase ratings, which does not necessarily ensure better quality education.

“Universities should not be working towards some status but rather focus on teaching. It becomes a commercial activity when universities work towards a status only because then you become eligible for certain financial grants. Then, all funds are being utilised for infrastructure. While infrastructure is necessary, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee learning,” said B Padmini, principal, Government Arts and Science College for Women and member, board of studies, Madras University.

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NEP 2020 and GER

Academics also point out that while the National Education Policy 2020 directs universities to achieve a gross enrolment ratio (GER) of 50% in higher education by 2030, governments have not provided sufficient funds to achieve this goal. Without funds, universities rely on online and distance education.

“In light of NEP, we are trying to increase GER to 50% by 2030. One of the ways to do that is ensuring good-quality online education from a reputed university. Because building that kind of infrastructure to reach 50% GER is very difficult, not that feasible,” said Mishra.

Without additional funds, universities now rely on student fees through online and distance mode of learning. But even there, teachers say, there have been restrictions. “In our case, the major source of revenue is the Institute of Distance Education… Earlier, anyone from any part of the country could run a distance education. That’s not there anymore which impacts our revenue,” said Rahiman.