New rules notified by the University Grants Commission (UGC) require government-funded deemed universities to raise at least 50 per cent of their revenues on their own, a move that is likely to force these institutions to hike course fees and self-finance new programmes.

The UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Amendment Regulations, 2026, notified last week, have amended the 2023 guidelines on deemed universities.

Currently, private institutions such as Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai, Dayalbagh Educational Institute in Agra, Gujarat Vidyapith in Ahmedabad, Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women in Coimbatore and Gurukula Kangri in Haridwar get substantial funds from the Centre.

The existing rules do not require these institutions to generate more funds.

However, the new rules want each of these institutes to “demonstrate, through its duly audited books of accounts, that it is able to generate a minimum of fifty per cent of its revenue on their own, that is, total receipts as well as total expenses of the institute is more than twice the government grants given to them”.

Atul Ravindra, former students’ union president of TISS, Mumbai, said the institutes would have to raise tuition fees at a faster rate to meet the target.

“Education in TISS will be inaccessible for the students from poor and marginalised sections. TISS has been increasing the fees of regular non-self-financing courses by 5 per cent a year. Now the tuition fees will see a much steeper hike. The institution will also start many more programmes in self-financing mode,” Ravindra said.

In June 2023, the education ministry amended the deemed university regulations and took over the power to appoint key functionaries at the five public-funded but privately managed deemed universities.

Another controversial provision in the new rules allows off-campus units of universities or deemed universities to gain full-fledged deemed university status or serve as an off-campus of a separate university. This provision will enable the hundreds of off-campuses of private universities to become full-fledged deemed universities if they have a good accreditation score.

Prof. Animik Shah, former vice-chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith, described the changes to deemed university rules as a step towards strengthening privatisation of higher education.

“The government wants to withdraw from its obligation to provide higher education to the poor people. Private universities have proliferated in the last 10 years. They charge higher fees and mostly focus on professional courses that justify the higher fees. The new rules will enable campuses of private institutions to become full-fledged deemed universities and continue the commercialisation of higher education,” Shah said.

He said the public-funded institutions were financially weak and their off-campus sites might not meet accreditation standards and eventually fail to apply for a deemed tag. There are 479 state government-funded universities, 455 private universities and around 130 deemed universities in the country.

Shah said this would facilitate crossover from colleges to deemed universities and a merger of institutions. The students from SC, ST and OBC sections, with poor economic backgrounds, would lose access to these institutions, he said.