BENGALURU: The Karnataka government has strongly opposed the provisions related to the appointment of vice-chancellors in the draft University Grants Commission (UGC) Regulation-2025.
Demanding that the Union government withdraw the draft guidelines, Higher Education Minister Dr M C Sudhakar has written to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, stating that the provisions related to VC appointments are a “blow to the federal structure” and undermine the legitimate role that state governments play in improving higher education.
UGC recently published the draft UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment and Promotion of Teachers and Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2025, for public consultation. The draft is now kept for public consultation and one of the provisions proposes sweeping changes to the appointment of VCs.
“While detailed comments will be submitted in due course after consultation with experts, the Government of Karnataka would like to strongly oppose certain provisions related to the appointment of vice-chancellors, which strike at the root of the higher education system and powers of the state government,” Sudhakar said in the letter dated January 13.
He pointed out that the draft guidelines provide no role for the state government in selecting the VC of a university.
Sudhakar said the provision aims to extinguish the rights of states in universities and higher education governance and added that this is not acceptable. He suggested that the UGC engage in a dialogue with state governments to assess the present status and issues faced by universities, besides discussing issues pertaining to students before proposing any radical changes to the existing guidelines.