University Grants Commission (UGC). | Photo credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education presented a report on Monday (December 8, 2025) which reviews the autonomous bodies and institutions under the Ministry of Education. In the report, she urged the University Grants Commission to include discrimination against Other Backward Classes in the definition of caste-based discrimination in the latest version of the Equality Promotion Rules being prepared by the government. It also asked the government to “reconsider” the EWS reservation in the appointment of Associate Professor and Professor.
The panel recommended that a chairman be appointed to the UGC as soon as possible, noting that the post has been vacant since April this year. It also reiterated the recommendation to ensure that the draft UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment and Promotion of Teachers and Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2025 be discussed with the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), saying it affects at least 10 states.
The committee, headed by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh, also referred to its study visit to Varanasi, where it found that “filling EWS faculty posts is almost impossible for Associate Professor and Professor levels”.
The panel explained that the candidate for the position of professor had to hold the position of associate professor and the candidate for associate professor had to hold the position of assistant professor. As both Associates and Assistants earn more than ₹ 8 lakh as per UGC pay scale, there will never be a candidate who qualifies as per the income criteria for an EWS post.
“Universities spend a lot of time and resources to find candidates for such positions, even though they know that candidates will not be found. In such a situation, the Committee recommends the Ministry to reconsider the implementation of EWS at the associate professor and professor level,” he said.
In the section devoted to equity enforcement rules for colleges, the panel pointed to concerns in a draft version released earlier this year. It noted that these rules had not yet been finalized and recommended that disability be included as an “axis of discrimination”.
“The draft ordinance must require annual disclosure of cases of caste-based discrimination, mandatory sensitization programs for faculty and administrative staff, and adequate mental health support and legal aid in all colleges,” the statement said. It also urged the government to ensure that the equity committee under these rules has faculty and student representation, meaning more than half of its membership should be from the SC, ST and OBC communities.
Regarding higher education in general, the committee said the National Education Policy 2020 targets were “ambitious” in terms of achieving a 50% gross enrollment ratio by 2030 and moving from a three-year to a four-year bachelor’s degree program. This would require a significant strengthening of infrastructure and recruitment of personnel.
However, the panel said: “The UGC and recent measures by the Ministry to limit funding for capital projects in higher education institutions pose a challenge to achieving the NEP goals. The committee is also concerned about the ability of higher education institutions to meet the requirements of the NEP and feels that there is a mismatch between the current state of these higher education institutions and the NEP vision that needs a comprehensive assessment and concrete response.”
The committee noted that universities need “greater support” to implement multiple-entry, multiple-output frameworks and to design the curricula of these courses so that one-year certificates or two-year diplomas can provide students with “marketable skills”.
The House panel also pointed out that apart from Indian Institutes of Technology and National Institutes of Technology, newly recruited faculty in central universities and other UGC-funded institutions “do not receive seed grants for establishment and research expenses at the beginning of their tenure”.
Published – 8 Dec 2025 21:30 IST
