KLE Academy among five state varsities to get autonomy

KLE Academy of Higher Education and Research, Belagavi and four other higher education institutions in Karnataka were on Tuesday granted greater academic and financial autonomy by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

With this, these universities do not have to seek the UGC's permission anymore for initiatives ranging from starting new programmes, opening open and distance-learning programmes, hiring foreign faculty and admitting foreign students.

The UGC placed them in the list of category II of institutions eligible for graded autonomy according to new regulations notified by the higher education regulator recently.

Jain University, Bengaluru; Manipal Academy of Higher Education; University of Mysore; and JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, Mysuru are the other four institutions in Karnataka granted autonomy.

In all, the commission approved granting of autonomy to 52 universities in different parts of the country. These included five central universities, 21 state universities, 24 deemed universities and two private universities.

A total of 25 universities, including Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi and University of Hyderabad, were placed in category I while the remaining 27 higher education institutions were granted autonomy under category II institutions.

Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar called the UGC's decision as "historic", at a press conference.