The University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued guidelines for government funded higher education institutes to generate additional revenue by sharing its resources such as library, laboratories, equipment, among others, with other HEIs for better maintenance. The regulatory body said this would help undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) students and researchers as they will be able to utilise quality infrastructure at a normal amount.
UGC further said that it has been supporting Central Universities as well as other Higher Education Institutes in setting up infrastructural facilities and resources in order to bring about qualitative improvement in research and development activities. To help these institutions earn additional funds required for the upkeep and maintenance of infrastructural facilities, UGC has devised measures to share their infrastructure with other HEIs for optimum utilisation of available resources by charging a nominal amount.
The regulatory body directed all HEIs to ensure the implementation of its guidelines to benefit the UG/PG students and researchers.
Here’s what the guidelines say:
According to the guidelines, the information about the available resources at the host institute should be shared on its website along with the capacity of the institute to accommodate guest students at different levels- UG, PG, and research. The common minimum charges for specific resources should be listed by the host institute.
The resources would be open for sharing between 8 am to 8 pm on all working days. A coordination committee will be constituted to effectively supervise the collaboration so as to avoid overlapping between the host institute and guest institute regarding the use of resources.
Furthermore, a mechanism of onboarding students from the guest institute through unique identity cards to access the resources should be identified. A single point of access at each institute to avail the resources should further be identified.
Facilities open for sharing between same city and in distant model
Within the same city, institutes can share library resources, e-books, databases, high end equipment such as Central instrumentation facility (CIF), anti-plagiarism software, classrooms, sports ground, stadiums, halls, and more. On the other hand, in the distant model, access to online lectures, videos, learning materials, and LMS can be shared. Furthermore, training of teachers can be held in collaboration.
What is the process?
The process for sharing the resources includes signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the collaborating institutes. The MoU would carry details about resource sharing, time, and mechanism to exchange money for service.