Now students to get prospectus for free

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has barred all universities and colleges from making it mandatory for the students to purchase institutional prospectus, introducing provisions to penalise those violating this directive.

All universities and colleges will now have to publish their prospectus information including the status of the institution, its affiliation, accreditation status, physical assets and amenities, course-wise sanctioned intake of the students, various types of fees payable for different programmes, total fees payable for the entire programme, last date of admission and details of faculty, according to the latest directive of the commission.

“Purchasing prospectus shall be the personal choice of the applicant (student) and he/she shall have rights to decide against it in case he/she wishes to access the information from the institutional website,” UGC directed all higher education institutions.

The commission's directive will be applicable to all universities and colleges including deemed-to-be universities and have regulatory force “on the extant as well as future grievances of the students.

“The directive comes into force with immediate effect,” UGC secretary Rajnish Jain said.

The directive has been issued to prohibit “coercive and profiteering institutional practices,” he added.

The universities and colleges will also have to post on their respective websites details about their members of governing bodies, minutes of the meetings of the bodies like academic council and executive council, sources of income, the financial situation and “any other information about its functioning, necessary for an applicant (student) to make a fully-informed choice,” the UGC directive stated.

In case of the violation of its directive or failure of institutions to comply with it, the commission said it will take punitive action which will include holding, stopping of grants or withdrawal of approval in worst cases.

If the state universities violate its directive, the commission will recommend to the state government concern for taking “appropriate action” against them.

The commission will also "name and shame" the institutions violating its directive through advertisement in newspapers and other media platforms, a UGC official said.