All deemed universities will lose the “deemed” tag and function as full-fledged universities with the formation of the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.

The government will also authorise top-performing colleges to award degrees.

Under the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act, universities set up by central laws, state laws, and deemed-to-be-universities established under the UGC Act are allowed to award degrees to students on completion of their academic programmes.

The proposed VBSA law will repeal the UGC Act, All India Council for Technical Education Act and the National Council for Teacher Education Act. With the repeal of the UGC Act, the provision for the creation of deemed-to-be-universities will no longer exist.

There are 150 deemed-to-be-universities in the country. The number of such institutions saw a sharp increase between 2000 and 2010. The UPA government in 2009 set up a panel to suggest the withdrawal of the deemed tag from undeserving institutions. The panel proposed the withdrawal of the tag from 44 out of 126 such institutions functioning at that time. However, these institutions moved the Supreme Court and got relief.

While the present bill advocates doing away with the deemed-to-be-university concept, it brings in a new mechanism empowering the Union government to authorise leading colleges to award degrees. The VBSA will have a regulatory council, which will study the applications of aspiring colleges and allow them to award degrees.

“The regulatory council may authorise any accredited higher educational institution, other than a university, to grant degrees in such manner as may be specified by the regulations of the regulatory council, with the prior approval of the central government,” said the bill. The council will have the power to revoke authorisation accorded to the colleges with the approval of the Centre, if such colleges violate the provisions of law, it said.

A Delhi University professor said: “The NEP advocated the creation of a separate council to release grants to universities. The VBSA Bill says that the education ministry will have the power to release grants. The NEP recommended an end to the system of affiliated colleges. Now the affiliated colleges will stay and some colleges will get degree-granting powers.”