Over the past few weeks we have been told that the mandatory nature of the UGC Regulations require them to be implemented by universities immediately and in a chapter-and- verse fashion. JNUTA’s survey of 46 Central Universities however shows that barring a handful who have definitively adopted them, most others are still operating with other Regulations based on the preceding 2009 version. And for even the few universities that have adopted them, barring JNU, modifications in the way of harmonisation with the statutes, objects, and past practices of the institution have inevitably resulted.
Table 1 presents the facts of 46 Central Universities, the year of their founding, and the research programmes they take admission to. To determine whether they had adopted the 2016 UGC Regulations, we examined the Ordinances and notifications on the university website in order to detect its adoption. (The value label unclear is to mark the cases where no explicit information of either type was posted on the university’s website.)
Taking just a few crucial parameters, we find that amongst those universities who have adopted the UGC Regulations 2016, each one of them barring JNU has tried to harmonise them with past practices, standards of fairness of examination and good research.
In fact, the University of Hyderabad, which has more or less a chapter and verse interpretation of the Regulations has decided through its Academic Council, not to reduce intake and has asked the UGC for clarifications.
It is JNU’s tragedy that we have an administration that refuses to stand up for the university in any fora, that refuses to hold an Academic Council meeting, and has implemented a completely unwarranted cull of seats for admissions and the adoption of crippling and illegal eligibility conditions for applications to various programmes, particularly in the science schools. UGC Regulations are being used merely as a pretext to cripple the research programmes of JNU. The JNUTA urges every School and Centre of the University to come together to demand an Emergency Academic Council meeting, as is provided for by Regulation M1, Clause 3.1. Please send in requisitions by School as soon as possible.
A sample requisition letter (physically signed)
We, the undersigned members of the Academic Council, express our dissatisfaction with the cuts in M.Phil./PhD and Direct PhD intake of many Centres/Schools/Special Centres, without the approval of the Centres and the Academic Council. We would like to requisition an Emergency meeting of the Academic Council, as provided by Regulation M1, Clauss 3.1, to discuss and resolve all issues pertaining to the admission policy. We request that admissions be kept open until the AC arrives at a final decision on the matter in a holistic manner.
A more readable version of the tables can be found here. CUs and the UGC regulations
Ayesha Kidwai Pradeep Shinde
Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association 