In News:

• The University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved the draft guidelines for engaging the industry experts and professionals from various fields as ‘professor of practice’.
• This is being done in order to get these professionals to use their experience and teach in higher education institutions.

What’s in today’s article:

• University Grants Commission (UGC) – About, mandate
• News Summary

In Focus: The University Grant Commission (UGC)

• The UGC was formally established in November 1956 as a statutory body by the UGC Act 1956.
  • It was set up by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education.
• It was established for the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of university education in India.
  • It is essentially an autonomous government agency that channels public funds (grants) to higher education institutions.
    • This is done in exchange for their compliance with set quality criteria.
  • It is headquartered in New Delhi and it has six regional centres in Pune, Bhopal, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Guwahati and Bangalore.

Mandate

• UGC has the unique distinction of being the only grant-giving agency in the country
• The UGC`s mandate includes:
  • Promoting and coordinating university education.
  • Determining and maintaining standards of teaching, examination & research in universities.
  • Framing regulations on minimum standards of education.
  • Monitoring developments in the field of collegiate and university education; disbursing grants to the universities and colleges.
  • Serving as a vital link between the Union and state governments and institutions of higher learning.
  • Advising the Central and State governments on the measures necessary for improvement of university education.

News Summary

• The UGC has approved the “Professors of Practice” scheme. The guidelines for this scheme are likely to be notified in September.
• This scheme will enable universities and higher education institutions to hire distinguished experts as faculty members. The engagement will be for a fixed term.

Key highlights of the draft guidelines

• 
• Experts from various field to be hired
  • Experts from fields such as engineering, science, media, literature, entrepreneurship, social sciences, fine arts, civil services, and armed forces among others will be eligible to be hired.
• Exemptions given to these experts
  • These experts will also be exempted from the requirement of publications and other eligibility criteria stipulated for the recruitment of faculty members at the Professor level.
• Number of Professors of Practice in a higher education institution
  • As per the guideline, the number of Professors of Practice in a higher education institution (HEI) should not exceed 10% of the sanctioned posts.