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Deemed university is a status of autonomy granted to high performing institutes and departments of various universities in India. This status of ‘Deemed-to-be-University’, is granted by Deptt. Of Higher Education, Union Human Resource Development Ministry, on the advice of the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India, under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act, 1956 .
The UGC began in 1956 after Indian parliament passed the University Grants Commission Act "to make provision for the co-ordination and determination of standards in Universities and for that purpose, to establish a University Grants Commission."
Overview
The deemed university status enables not just full autonomy in setting course work and syllabus of those institutes and research centers, but also allows it to set its own guidelines for the admissions, fees, and instructions to the students.
Universities having deemed university status are known and recognized for their quality education.
De-recognition of some Deemed universities
As of June, 2008 there were 130 "Deemed" universities in India. In the past, there had been notices issued by UGC to many of these universities regarding admissions, fees, introduction of new courses (including courses offered through private franchising under distance learning) and increase in their intake capacity without corresponding increase in the infrastructure.
Subsequently, after many publicized instance of malpractices and charges that University Grants Commission (UGC) was funding undeserving universities with large amount of tax payer money, despite the fact that these institutes never offered any subsidised education, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) in June 2009, established the P.N. Tandon committee, comprising professor P N Tandon, Prof. Goverdhan Mehta, Prof. Mrinal Miri and Prof. Anandakrishnan to suggest measures to tackle the problem, in the next months they inspected the deemed universities. After the submission of their report, in November a special task force, comprising of the same members was set up, to prepare an action plan fore safeguarding the interests of students enrolled in deemed universities, which suggested that to avoid jeopardising the future of the nearly two lakhs students enrolled in these universities in 13 states that these institutes be allowed to revert to their earlier status as affiliated colleges of their original universities.
After the submission of action plan, Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) on January 18, 2010, withdrew the “deemed” status awarded to 44 of these universities. In an affidavit submitted with the Supreme Court by the ministry, it mentioned "several aberrations in the functioning", “fragmented with concocted nomenclatures” and seats that were “disproportionately” increased beyond the actual intake capacity, and most importantly it mentioned "undesirable management architecture, where families rather than professional academics controlled the functioning". Out of the 130 deemed to be universities, only 38 institutions justify their continuation as deemed universities, another 44 were found to be deficient in some aspects, and were given three years to improve their functioning, the rest 44 lost their "deemed" status.
The following day, the minister for HRD, suggested the entire concept of deemed university will have to go as the restructuring the higher education sector was underway. Meanwhile, the Association of University Teachers (AUT), welcomed the decision of the Central Government to withdraw ‘Deemed University’ status to 44 institutions in the country, it further stated that since these institutions command "direct money power and covert political power", steps should be taken to ensure that this exercise can be duly completed. The matter came before the Supreme Court on 25 January for hearing, before HRD ministry started issuing formal notices, when the Supreme Court ordered that no immediate step be taken by the Centre, while it scrutinised both the reports, one by the University Grants Commission review committee which didn't find anything amiss in the institutions, and other by the Tandon committee, set up by the HRD ministry, which suggested blacklisting them. The matter is to come for further hearing on March 8.
