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  • Difference between Deemed to be university and autonomous colleges.

Deemed to be Universities
“Deemed” is a status of autonomy granted to a university by DHE under MHRD, on the advice of UGC. Deemed to be Universities enjoy full autonomy or independence in deciding courses, syllabus, admissions and fees. Some Deemed to be Universities can also grant degrees on their own. Deemed-to-be Universities, which continue to perform well, can get the status of a full-fledged University. According to a UGC list, there are 123 Deemed-to-be universities in the country.

Salient features

  • Conduct their own admission procedure
  • Can decide their own syllabus
  • Conduct their own exams
  • May or may not grant degrees to the students

Autonomous Colleges
Autonomous colleges exercise independent control over their daily operations, syllabus, courses offered and admission procedure. They fall under the administrative control of Department of Higher Education (DHE), MHRD.

Salient features

  • Conduct their own admission procedure
  • Can decide their own syllabus
  • Conduct their own exams
  • May or may not grant diploma or degree to students

What does an Institution Need in Order to Become a Deemed University?

    Sarvesh
    Any institution is given the status of a deemed university in accordance with Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956. There are some characteristics that an institution must possess in order to be declared a deemed university
    Below mentioned are some of them which are as follows -

    • The institution must have demonstrated the characteristics of a university through diverse course curricular prerequisites, benefaction to teaching; and, verifiable research output.
    • Must have an undergraduate and at least five post-graduate departments in existence from 3 years with research programs.
    • Shall be engaged in publications, research activity, and scholarly works and shall have post-doctoral/doctoral research programs. The faculty in Social Sciences, Humanities, and Languages shall have at least 10 publications and must have at least 15 publications per year in refereed journals listed by UGC and having an impact factor in the Engineering/Faculty of Sciences/Medicine.
    • Must have a fine number of full-time fully qualified faculty for the research and teaching and as per the guidelines given by UGC and under concerned Statutory Council(s) norms.
    • Must have the necessary infrastructure for quality research and seamless access to modern information resources within the institution.

      Sarvesh
      There’s a thin line of difference between Autonomous Institutes and Autonomous Colleges.

      Autonomous Colleges need to be affiliated to a certain university. These colleges can conduct their own admission procedure and exams. However, at the end of course completion, they cannot issue their own degree or diploma. The final degree or diploma is issued by the affiliated university.

      Autonomous Institutes, like deemed-to-be universities, enjoy full autonomy or independence in deciding courses, syllabus, admissions and fees. However, they can grant diplomas and not degrees.

        Sarvesh
        An autonomous university is one that has independent control over its day-to-day operations and curriculum, as opposed to one where the academic programmes are controlled by the government or a government agency.

            Sarvesh
            autonomous universities which work on very high standards in the specific area of study whereas Autonomous colleges are affiliated by any Government university but follow their own grade system for their academic courses instead of following the university’s syllabus.

              ManishaNagarkoti
              Autonomous universities are institutions that operate to very high standards in a single field of study, whereas autonomous colleges are associated with any government university but use their own grading system for academic courses rather than following the university’s syllabus.