New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has made it compulsory for all deemed-to-be-universities to follow the set of guidelines stipulated by the government.

These guidelines include reservation policy in admissions and recruitments, admission of students based on a merit-oriented all India examination, charge the fee according to the UGC regulations and to disclose the complete fee structure on their websites and prospectuses.

According to the UGC guidelines, the institutions cannot use the terms 'University' or 'National/Indian' and can only use 'deemed-to-be-university' in parenthesis. The terms 'National' and 'Indian' will now be reserved only for institutes run by the central government.

These legally-binding rules disclosed recently by UGC stipulate that it is mandatory for all institutions to be recognized, offer a wide range of courses and focus largely on research and patents.

The step was taken by UGC after facing widespread flak for failing to control the burgeoning in the number of sub-standard universities.

Following any violations of the UGC guidelines, an institution may have to face an inquiry by UGC, freezing of the admission procedure, withdrawal of the 'deemed-to-be-university' status by the Centre and confiscation of the institute's movable and immovable resources.

All institutes would now have to undergo inspection by the UGC every 5 years. The eligibility criteria for an institute to have deemed university status has also been toughened.

The institute will only be eligible for the status after they have been "in existence for 15 years, undergone periodic reviews by recognized external accrediting agencies, offer well-established, broad-based graduate, post graduate and research programmes in several disciplines, are engaged in quality research, have full-time fully-qualified faculty, generate intellectual property and secure merit-based research funding from public and private agencies."

The institutes will have to follow academic sessions as notified by the central government and would also not be allowed to offer distance education courses. It would be compulsory for the institute to offer at least 5 postgraduate courses and each department would be required to have a minimum stipulated permanent faculty.

The regulations by UGC also stipulate a five year long term for Vice Chancellors as well as the creation of posts and governing bodies such as Pro-Vice Chancellor, Registrar, a Board of Studies, Board of Management that has a central government nominee, an Academic Council, a Planning and Management Board and a Finance Committee.