{"id":36889,"date":"2023-08-17T09:40:26","date_gmt":"2023-08-17T04:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=36889"},"modified":"2025-04-22T08:56:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T03:26:17","slug":"recognition-and-grant-of-equivalence-to-qualifications-obtained-from-foreign-educational-institution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/recognition-and-grant-of-equivalence-to-qualifications-obtained-from-foreign-educational-institution\/","title":{"rendered":"Recognition and Grant of Equivalence to Qualifications obtained from Foreign Educational Institutions Regulations 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>About the University Grants Commission (UGC)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>About the draft Guidelines<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Significance of the draft Guidelines<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Issues with the draft Guidelines<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The UGC has placed two draft guidelines &#8211; Recognition and Grant of Equivalence to Qualifications obtained from Foreign Educational Institutions Regulations 2023 &#8211; in public domain for comments\/feedback.<\/li>\n<li>The norms come at a time foreign universities are setting up campuses in India&#8217;s GIFT city and Indian universities collaborating with universities abroad to offer dual or joint degrees.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The University Grants Commission (UGC):<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Genesis:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The Sargeant Report<\/strong> was the first attempt to formulate a national system of education in India in <strong>1944<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It recommended the formation of a <strong>University Grants Committee<\/strong>, which was established in 1945 and was tasked with dealing with all of the then-existing Universities in 1947.<\/li>\n<li>Soon after independence, the <strong>University Education Commission<\/strong> was established (in 1948) under the <strong>chairmanship of Dr. S Radhakrishnan<\/strong> to report on Indian university education and suggest improvements and extensions.<\/li>\n<li>It proposed <strong>reorganising <\/strong>the University Grants Committee along the lines of the <strong>University Grants Commission of the United Kingdom.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>As a result, the UGC was<strong> formally inaugurated in 1953<\/strong> by Maulana Abul Kalam, the then Minister of Education.<\/li>\n<li>However, the UGC was established [by the Ministry of Education&#8217;s Department of Higher Education] as <strong>a statutory body in November 1956<\/strong> by the UGC Act 1956.<\/li>\n<li>A proposal to replace UGC with another new regulatory body called the <strong>Higher Education Commission of India<\/strong> (HECI) is under consideration by the Government of India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mandate:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The UGC has the <strong>unique distinction of being the only grant-giving agency<\/strong> in the country which has been vested with two responsibilities of:\n<ul>\n<li>Providing funds<\/li>\n<li>Coordination, determination and maintenance of standards in institutions of higher education.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>The UGC`s mandate includes:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Promoting and coordinating university education.<\/li>\n<li>Determining and maintaining standards of teaching, examination and research in universities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Framing regulations<\/strong> on minimum standards of education.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Monitoring developments<\/strong> in the field of collegiate and university education, disbursing grants to the universities and colleges.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Serving as a vital link<\/strong> between the Union and state governments and institutions of higher learning.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Advising the Central and State governments<\/strong> on the measures necessary for improvement of university education.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>About the draft Guidelines:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>It covers internationally relevant curricula<\/strong>, academic and research collaboration with foreign universities and credit recognition under twinning arrangements.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Qualification obtained from a foreign higher educational institution<\/strong> (HEI) shall be recognised and granted equivalence provided the qualification has been awarded by a foreign HEI that is duly recognised in its home country.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The student should have pursued the programme through regular<\/strong>, in-person instruction (and not through online or distance learning).<\/li>\n<li><strong>The entry-level requirements for admission<\/strong> to the programme should be similar to that of a corresponding programme in India.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The &#8220;similarity&#8221; of entry criteria<\/strong> will be determined through due process by the standing committee set up for the purpose based on &#8211;\n<ul>\n<li>Similarity of minimum duration of the programme in India and the foreign country;<\/li>\n<li>Minimum credit requirements and<\/li>\n<li>Evaluation processes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>The regulations will not be applicable<\/strong> to professional qualifications awarded by foreign educational institutions in disciplines such as Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Law, and Architecture.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Significance of the draft Guidelines:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>These guidelines restrict degrees<\/strong> obtained through distance learning and online mode as well as through franchise agreement and for qualification obtained from schools affiliated to foreign boards.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A dedicated online portal<\/strong> to receive applications for granting equivalence will be created <strong>for a smooth movement of students to the Indian setup.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>This equivalence certificate <\/strong>will certify the \u201c<strong>parity of a qualification<\/strong>\u201d between a foreign qualification and that awarded by an Indian board or university at the same level.<\/li>\n<li>The certificate will be valid for <strong>admission <\/strong>to Indian universities or <strong>employment <\/strong>purposes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Issues with the draft Guidelines:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The guidelines could be in contravention<\/strong> with the gazetted notification whereby the Association of Indian Universities&#8217; (<strong>AIU<\/strong>) is currently the competent authority to award equivalence to foreign degrees.<\/li>\n<li><strong>UGC should first look at equivalence of Indian degrees<\/strong>. Degrees issued by Indian universities as per Sec 22 of UGC Act need to be considered equivalent by all state governments.\n<ul>\n<li>This will solve many issues faced by the graduates from Indian universities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) What is the Sargent report?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Sargent Report on Post-War Education Development in India, was a 1944 memorandum or the first comprehensive plan to address all levels and facets of education, including technical, vocational, and professional education.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2) What is the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The HECI is supposed to replace the University Grants Commission &#8211; a statutory body responsible for the maintenance of the standard of higher education in India. HECI shall function as a body that lays down uniform standards for the development of education in India.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/india\/ugc-draft-on-foreign-degrees-may-not-conform-to-aiu-rules\/articleshowprint\/102816036.cms?val=3728\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>UGC draft on foreign degrees may not conform to AIU rules<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/education\/ugc-drafts-guidelines-to-recognise-foreign-degrees-bars-online-or-distance-mode-8897478\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>IE<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The draft guidelines of the UGC restrict degrees obtained through distance learning and online mode, etc., from Foreign Educational Institutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":36890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36889","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}