She said the University Grants Commission (UGC) was mulling dismantling of the college affiliation system. Rajivlochan was speaking on the sidelines of the seventh Higher Education and HR summit organised by Elets Technomedia in association with RUSA and All India Council of Technical Education.

“All grade A colleges have been invited to send proposals to become universities. In Maharashtra, we have sent the invitation to top 50 colleges, though there are over 100 eligible colleges. They have replied very enthusiastically to the proposal. Almost everyone has taken keen interest in taking this forward. They all want autonomous status. They all want deemed university status,” said Rajivlochan.
According to a UGC regulation, an institute should have around 15 acres of area to become a university. “This is not possible in many urban areas. While the response is good their only issue is the UGC regulation. UGC will have to reconsider the 15-acre land requirement regulation,” she said.

There are two ways in which universities can be formed by respective institutes, she said, “One is autonomy which leads to deemed to be university and the other is cluster university. Deemed university is not an affiliating university. In cluster university system, 3-4 colleges come together to form a university and this is still in process.”

Asked whether new universities would be able to function from the coming academic year in June, Rajivlochan refused to provide an exact date. “The process will take time. But what I can share is that we have had a very enthusiastic response. We are doing our best to facilitate this process.”