Mumbai University awarded Class 1 Univ status
The University of Mumbai (MU) has been granted Class 1 graded autonomy by the UGC, allowing it to start new courses and institutes without UGC permission. MU can also offer skill-based courses, establish research parks and incubation centres, and appoint foreign teachers. This status will facilitate the internationalisation of education and empower distance and open learning institutes.
Mumbai: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has conferred a Class 1 graded autonomy status on the University of Mumbai (MU), a position that will open the doors to various educational opportunities. In 2018, Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), Pune, was the first public university in the state to secure this rank.
With the status of a Class I university, MU can now start new courses, departments, campuses, online courses, and distance and open learning institutes without requiring UGC permission. It can also start degree and diploma courses in a diverse range of disciplines within the ‘innovation field’ such as technology, entrepreneurship, design thinking, and sustainable development.
The Class I status has been granted to MU as per the UGC’s Grant of Graded Autonomy Regulation, 2018. In 2018, the central government granted graded autonomy to 60 higher educational institutions in the country.
The Class 1 status will enable the university to start skill-based courses against the backdrop of the National Skill Qualification Framework. It can now set up research parks, incubation centres and skill-based courses on a self-financing basis, taking local needs into account. It also has the freedom to appoint foreign teachers for a fixed period, subject to terms and conditions, and to directly admit foreign students.
In the wake of the implementation of the National Education Policy, it has now become easier to forge academic alliances with foreign higher education institutions for the internationalisation of education. This will facilitate dual degrees, associate degrees and twinning degrees, and a student-teacher exchange process at the national and international level.
Prof Ravindra Kulkarni, vice-chancellor of MU said, “This status has given the university academic freedom, and a new avenue of educational opportunities will open up. The Class I status will enable the university to take a major step towards the internationalisation of higher education in the context of the implementation of the National Education Policy. Along with education, research and innovation, many activities such as skill-based education, new courses, online courses, and creation of campuses can now happen in the university. There will especially be a great contribution to the empowerment of distance and open learning institutes.”