Universities Not To affiliate More Than 300 Colleges: Ramesh Pokhriyal

New Delhi: With the new National Education Policy proposing more autonomy to colleges and phasing out affiliation system, the universities won’t provide affiliation to more than 300 colleges, Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said on Wednesday.

“I visited a university recently and when I asked the vice chancellor how many colleges are affiliated to that university he said 800 degree colleges. I thought I heard him wrong. I asked him again and he said 800. It was a convocation ceremony. I was surprised. Can any VC remember the names of the principals of 800 degree colleges?” Pokhriyal asked.

The minister addressed a virtual session on ‘Education post COVID-19’ on Wednesday.

“Can he or she keep a tab on the quality and functions of such a huge number of colleges? That is why in the NEP we are saying that in a phased manner we will work on this. One university will not affiliate more than 300 colleges and for that if we need to increase the number of universities we will do that,” Nishank was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

The education minister was addressing a virtual session on ‘Education post COVID-19’.

“Can he or she keep a tab on the quality and functions of such a huge number of colleges? That is why in the NEP we are saying that in a phased manner we will work on this. One university will not affiliate more than 300 colleges and for that if we need to increase the number of universities we will do that,” Nishank stated.

According to the new policy, the affiliation system will be phased out over 15 years and stage-wise mechanism of granting graded autonomy will be in place.

“We have 45,000 degree colleges of which only 8,000 are autonomous. Based on their quality in a phase manner we will improve their grading and as they progress we will grant them a graded autonomy,” minister said.