New Delhi, Apr 3: The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has been formally declared a deemed-to-be university, empowering it to award its own degrees, officials said.
The Ministry of Education, on the advice of the University Grants Commission (UGC), declared NCERT and its six constituent units as a deemed-to-be university under a distinct category, according to an official notification.
The constituent units include regional institutes of education in Ajmer, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Mysuru, Shillong, and the Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education in Bhopal. As the apex organisation for school education, NCERT undertakes educational research, curriculum development, and creation of teaching-learning materials.
Three years ago, the Centre approved granting NCERT deemed-to-be-university status in the ‘De Novo’ category, allowing it to undertake study and research in emerging areas of knowledge not offered by any existing institution.
The notification includes conditions preventing NCERT from engaging in commercial or profit-making activities and mandates that all programmes conform to UGC norms and standards. Any new programmes, off-campus or offshore, must follow UGC guidelines.
Currently, graduate and postgraduate programmes offered by NCERT’s Regional Institutes of Education are affiliated with local universities such as Barkatullah University (Bhopal), M.D.S University (Ajmer), University of Mysuru, Utkal University (Bhubaneshwar), and North-Eastern Hill University (Shillong).
The Ministry directed NCERT to begin research, doctoral, and innovative academic programmes, participate in the National Institutional Ranking Framework, and create Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) for students, including digital records of their credits. (Agencies)
