NCERT granted deemed-to-be university status to award own degrees

Key facts

• The Ministry of Education, on the advice of the University Grants Commission (UGC), declared the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and its six constituent units as deemed-to-be university under the distinct category.
• The six constituent units are regional institutes of education in Ajmer, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Mysuru and Shillong, and the Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education in Bhopal.
• The deemed status prohibits NCERT from commercial and profit-making activities and mandates that all academic programmes conform to UGC norms.
• NCERT must obtain UGC approval before starting new programmes, off-campus or offshore centres.
• NCERT has been directed to launch research, doctoral and innovative academic programmes and to participate in the National Institutional Ranking Framework rankings.
• NCERT must create Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) identities for students and upload their credit scores in digital lockers for reflection in the ABC portal.