UGC Grants Deemed University Status To NCERT; Confirms Education Minister Pradhan

New Delhi: The Education Minister of India, Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday announced that the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has been granted deemed university status. Pradhan made the announcement during the 63rd foundation day of NCERT in the national Capital.

"NCERT has been granted the status of deemed University today…" he announced.

According to UGC rules, those institutes were granted the deemed to be university status under the “de novo ‘’ category which specialise in unique and emerging areas of knowledge.

In September last year, NCERT had approached the University Grants Commission (UGC) seeking ‘Deemed University’ status.

The council had applied in “de navo” category.

As the apex organization for school education, the NCERT undertakes various activities and programmes, including educational research and innovation, curriculum development and development of textual and teaching-learning materials.

The ‘Deemed University’ status will allow NCERT to offer its own graduate, post-graduate and doctoral degrees and have autonomy in terms of introduction of programmes, course structure, conducting examinations and management, among others.

NCERT is currently offering graduate and post-graduate programmes for teachers training at its Regional Institute of Education (REI) centres that are affiliated with local universities.

At present, the REIs can introduce any new course only after getting approval from their affiliated universities.

(with PTI inputs)