Scholarship of Trans Disciplinary Learning (TDL) as an Innovative Pedagogy in University System: Learning from the Experience

Regulatory Bodies Of Technical And Higher Education

The above two main higher education (Post 12^th) regulatory bodies in India who are responsible for bringing in new phase in the education sector and to establish norms for continuous reforms were All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) and University Grants Commission (UGC). While AICTE looks after inspection and giving approval to technical institutes, UGC establishes norms to run a university which are entrusted with the power to set their own curricula and also to award degrees and diplomas.

The challenges in pedagogy increased as UGC under section 12(f) in 2010 facilitated the establishment of private Universities across the country. It was the struggle for emancipation from a rigid government university framework and done for obtaining universal educational paradigm and intensify the graduation programme which was otherwise hovering rock bottom in terms of quality education. Many private institutes applied and obtained university status by enactment of law and duly approved by legislative assembly of many states in India. The notification of UGC provided impetus and it witnessed a spurt in founding of Private universities across the country and was established in 18 of the 28 states of Union of India. The UGC then gave approval to establish 112 private universities in India by 2012 and out of these, 44 universities have been duly inspected for keeping the standards as mandated by the UGC and were made regular, lawfully recognized universities. Among all universities in India, Sikkim Manipal University is two decades old and was one of the earliest private universities established on 11 October 1995. Nirma University of Science and Technology is the second oldest which came in being in May 2004. Large states where no private universities were established included Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu, where other types of universities are abundant. Recently, ancient seat of learning and once world Famous Nalanda University was reopened in Bihar with the commitment to make it world class center of excellence in learning and innovations. Rajasthan with 39 listed private universities has the highest number in whole of India.

Various other categories of universities which are controlled by the UGC:

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  Central Universities or Union universities established by Act of Parliament and are under the purview of the Department of Higher Education in the Union Human Resource Development Ministry.

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  State universities, which are run by the state government of each of the states and territories of India, and are usually established by a local legislative assembly act.

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  Deemed university, or “Deemed-to-be-University”, is a status of autonomy granted by the Department of Higher Education on the advice of the UGC, under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956.