As on December 2019, there are 344 Private Universities functioning in the country, Minister of Human Resource Development (HRD) Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' informed the Parliament today. The minister also said, out of this 344, a total number of 71 Private Universities have been inspected by the UGC Expert Committees in the last three years and the current year.
The minister was responding to questions asked by members of Parliament regarding the quality and inspection process in regard to private universities in the country.
On receipt of the Act passed by the State Legislature and notification issued by the State Government in respect of establishment of a Private University, the respective University is asked to submit detailed information to the University Grants Commission (UGC) in a prescribed format for inspection, the minister said.
"Thereafter, UGC constitutes an Expert Committee consisting of a representative(s) from the Statutory Council(s) concerned to assess fulfilment of criteria in terms of programmes, faculty, infrastructural facilities, financial viability, etc. in the Private University in accordance with the UGC (Establishment of and Maintenance of Standards in Private Universities) Regulations, 2003," he added.
As of now, 263 Private Universities have submitted their information to UGC for inspection. Out of these, 199 have been inspected by the UGC so far. Of these 199 Universities, 132 Private Universities have submitted their compliance reports which have been noted by the Commission.
"The reports of the Committees including shortcomings, observation & suggestion in terms of programmes, faculty, infrastructural facilities, financial viability, etc., were sent to the University concerned for compliance. Out of these, 42 Universities have submitted their compliance report to the UGC which have been noted by the Commission," the minister said.
India has more than 900 universities, out of which 404 are State Universities, 126 are Deemed to be Universities and 50 are Central Universities.
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