These include 52 universities and eight colleges.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has granted autonomy to sixty higher educational institutions, which have maintained high academic standards.
These include 52 universities and eight colleges. Among the 52 universities, five are central universities, 21 are state universities, 24 are deemed universities, and two are private institutions.
The Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Prakash Javadekar, said that the Government is striving to introduce a liberalised regime in the education sector and emphasise on linking autonomy with quality.
The universities that have been granted autonomy will remain within the ambit of UGC, but will have the freedom to start new courses, off-campus centres, skill-development courses, research parks and any other new academic programmes. They will also have the freedom to hire foreign faculty, enrol foreign students, give incentive-based emoluments to the faculty, enter into academic collaborations and run open distance-learning programmes.
Similarly, the eight colleges that have been granted autonomy, will be free to set their own syllabus, hold examinations, carry out evaluation as well as declare results. In this case, only the degree will be awarded by the respective universities.