Why UGC’s NEP-driven higher education reforms are faltering on campus

Why UGC’s NEP-driven higher education reforms are faltering on campus Premium

Over the past few years, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the statutory body responsible for the coordination, determination, and maintenance of standards in university education, has rolled out a series of changes in higher education aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

Regulations covering key elements of NEP 2020 relevant to undergraduate and postgraduate programmes have been notified through the multiple guidelines and regulations. Notable examples are the curriculum and credit framework for undergraduate programmes 2022 and the UGC (Minimum Standards of Instruction for the Grant of Undergraduate Degree and Postgraduate Degree) Regulations, 2025. These regulations dwell on degree programmes of varying durations; multiple entry and multiple exit options; choosing major and minor discipline, the integration of general and vocational education; biannual admissions; transfer of credits earned through non-traditional learning platforms, including massive open online courses (MOOCs); and academic bank of credits (ABC), and simultaneously pursuing two UG or PG courses.

While the UGC claims that these measures aim to significantly expand academic flexibility by offering students greater choice in subject selection and enabling a more flexible higher education system, the colleges, particularly serving in towns, in tier two, and those in tier three are struggling to implement these changes.

Principals and lecturers of government and private colleges in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, whom The Hindu spoke to on condition of anonymity, pointed to common difficulties in implementing the undergraduate curriculum and credit framework.

Under the earlier Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) for undergraduate pass courses, the curriculum comprised two core subjects, one elective, skill, and foundation courses, with a total of 120 credits. The core component typically consisted of combination of two fixed subjects with equal credits. For example, in a B.Sc. programme, Physics and Chemistry would be offered as core subjects, while electives—either discipline-specific or open electives—could include courses such as Computer Applications, Physical Sciences, or Psychology.

Under the revised CBCS, the UGC has introduced a new Curriculum and Credit Framework for Undergraduate Programmes, allowing students to choose major and minor disciplines of their choice, with the degree awarded in the major subject. For instance, according to the UGC framework example, a student pursuing an Economics major who earns the prescribed minimum credits from a set of Statistics courses would be awarded a B.A. degree in Economics with a minor in Statistics. The minimum credit requirements for awarding a degree of three year duration, the major (core) subject accounts for 60 credits, the minor stream for 24 credits, multidisciplinary courses for nine credits, Ability Enhancement Courses (AEC) for eight credits, Skill Enhancement Courses (SEC) for nine credits, Value Added Courses common to all undergraduate programmes for six to eight credits, and a summer internship for two to four credits, totalling 140 credits.

The framework also provides for double majors, interdisciplinary undergraduate programmes, and multidisciplinary undergraduate programmes, enabling students to choose from a wider range of disciplines and specialisations. However, in practice—such as in Andhra Pradesh—the State higher education authorities have released syllabi only for the single-major model. In other States, most colleges appear to have adopted the single-major structure due to limited resources, with options such as double majors and interdisciplinary programmes largely confined to premier institutions and Tier one private colleges.

However, principals and lecturers said that while many students are opting for combinations such as Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science—often choosing one as a major and the other related subject as a minor—the number of students opting for subjects such as Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry has declined. As a result, colleges find it unviable to offer these subjects as minors, effectively narrowing academic offerings to a limited set of courses. This, they said, has also led to faculty redundancies, with several lecturers being laid off in private. But the problem they share is that in the private small town colleges getting a faculty with AI specialisation has become difficult with the growing surge in specialisation, as AI has been a recent thing.

Prof. Sanku Bose, Vice Chancellor, Sister Nivedita University (SNU), Kolkata, says that this is a normal challenge that institutions must adapt to. Academic offerings have to respond to student demand and the requirements of the job market. These reforms he opines are important to have more exposure, and flexibility along with the lines of quality in global standards.

Government colleges are also struggling to attract students, as courses and minors supported by existing faculty are failing to generate sufficient interest, said a government college professor from Telangana. “What are we expected to do in the coming years?” he asked. Principals and lecturers we spoke to argue that such specialisation at the undergraduate level is problematic, and students could instead study broader subjects under the earlier CBCS framework and choose specialisation at the postgraduate stage. They added that narrowing subject choices at the undergraduate level could restrict students' options at the master's level, and that it is during a postgraduate programme that students are better placed to make informed decisions.

However, under the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards of Instruction for the Grant of Undergraduate Degree and Postgraduate Degree) Regulations, 2025, a student is eligible for admission to any undergraduate programme or postgraduate irrespective of the disciplines studied at Class 12 or at undergraduate, provided the student qualifies in the national-level or university-level entrance examination for the chosen undergraduate discipline.

Prof. Yusuf Akhter, Assistant Professor at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, said that while the framework may provide students with the opportunity to enter undergraduate and postgraduate programmes of their choice, they may lack the depth in the subject required after clearing the entrance examination. This, he said, could adversely affect their academic progression, research quality, and ability to engage deeply with the discipline.

UGC has regulations pertaining to the availability of online courses through MOOCs platforms such as SWAYAM. Under its regulations on the integration of skill courses and apprenticeships, mandates that a student must earn a minimum of 50% of the total credits in a discipline to be awarded an undergraduate degree with a major in that discipline. For the remaining 50% credits, students may opt for skill courses, apprenticeships, or multidisciplinary subjects. Further it also states that the parent institution shall give equivalent credit weightage to the student for the credits earned via online learning credit courses through SWAYAM platform, in the credit plan of the programme.

However, lecturers from government degree colleges and private institutions said that while many students register for such online courses, they are often reluctant to attempt the final examination, because, the courses delivered through SWAYAM are available free of cost to the learners, but students credit-transfer courses require a certification examination which has a nominal fee of up to ₹1000.

Further, colleges are also grappling with regulatory requirements and guidelines on multiple fronts, including computer laboratories, infrastructure norms, faculty–student ratios, while receiving little support from either the State or the Centre, they argued. Government colleges and private institutions in Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns, which largely cater to students aspiring for employment, are unable to provide adequate academic and skill-based training, resulting in graduates lacking the necessary skills despite completing their degrees, said Andhra Pradesh Private College Management Association president, J. Ramanji.

As for the consequences of non-compliance, the UGC in its regulations states that it may constitute an enquiry committee to examine violations of the regulations. However, lecturers from both government and private colleges questioned who would report the data in the first place, pointing out that the system continues to rely largely on self-reported information. However, on paper, most colleges appear to meet all required standards, largely due to self-reported data submitted to agencies as well as to their affiliating universities. With even government universities facing operational and infrastructural constraints, Mr. Ramanji said there are limitations in effectively cross-verifying the data submitted by colleges.

(The author is an independent journalist based in Hyderabad covering politics, human rights, and environmental issues, primarily from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He is now expanding his work to include education across all States.)

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Published - January 27, 2026 03:14 pm IST

education / higher education / Artificial Intelligence

Source: TheHindu
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