UGC - University Grants Commission

To coordinate the educational activities of various universities and other national institution operating in different part of country and maintaining a uniform standard in the higher education was not a mean task for a country as vast and diverse as India. Thus on 28 Dec, 1953 the first Education Minister of India Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad inaugurated an institution known as University Grant Commission headed by a full time Chairman (Presently Sukhdeo Thorat) which was suppose to handle  all cases pertaining to the allocation of grants-in-aid from public funds to the Central Universities and other Universities and Institutions of higher learning. Besides allocation of grants the primary function of UGC was to   provide recognition to the universities in India. Traditionally inaugurated in 1953 The UGC, however, was formally established only in November 1956 as a statutory body of the Government of India through an Act of Parliament for the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of university education in India. With changing demands and diversification of the education system the UGC has decentralised its operations by setting up six regional centres at and Bangalore, Bhopal, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata,  and Pune,. The head office of the UGC is located at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in New Delhi, with two additional bureaus operating from 35, Feroze Shah Road and the South Campus of University of Delhi as well.

The UGC has the unique distinction of being the only grant-giving agency in the country which has been provided with dual responsibilities of providing funds and that of coordination, determination and maintenance of standards in institutions of higher education.

The UGC's main function in today’s changed scenario includes:

• Promoting and coordinating university education.
• Determining and maintaining standards of teaching, examination and research in universities.
• Framing regulations on minimum standards of education.
• Serving as a vital link between the Union and state governments and institutions of higher learning.
• Advising the Central and State governments on the measures necessary for improvement of university education. 

About UGC NET Exam