Metro India News | amaravati

Minister for Education and IT, Nara Lokesh, announced that the government would review the Private Universities Act, citing discrepancies with University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations.

Responding to members’ queries on private universities, their accreditation, and government regulations, he stated, “In 2016, the government introduced a special law to establish private universities, which led to institutions like VIT, SRM, Centurion, and Krea setting up campuses in Andhra Pradesh.

These universities were strategically located for decentralized development—VIT and SRM in Amaravati, Centurion in Vizianagaram, and Krea in Nellore. The law was amended five times favoring ‘brownfield’ universities such as Mohan Babu University, Annamacharya University, Godavari Global University, and Aditya University.”

Lokesh pointed out that recent amendments to the Act have hindered the entry of new private universities. “The Act currently contradicts UGC regulations, particularly regarding mandatory joint certification degrees. It mandates that at least 30% of a course be completed at a foreign partner university, while UGC requires that institutions must have NAAC accreditation, at least two graduating batches, six years of existence, over 1,000 publications, and a presence in QS World Rankings.

Due to these conflicts, no new private universities have been established in Andhra Pradesh. Our Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher education stands at 36.5%, compared to 47% in Tamil Nadu and 41.3% in Kerala. We need to address this issue urgently,” he added.

The government is actively reviewing the Act and is committed to attracting high-quality universities to the state. “BITS Pilani is ready to set up a campus in Amaravati. The central government is also planning to allow more foreign universities in India. Since our laws contradict UGC norms, we believe amendments are necessary. We are discussing this thoroughly and will make a decision soon,” Lokesh assured.

Regarding research and governance, the minister announced a proposal to establish a Global Institute of Good Governance (GIGG) in collaboration with the Tony Blair Institute. “A subcommittee has been formed, comprising myself, Minister Narayana, and Finance Minister Pyyavula Keshav. Research is crucial, yet our state lags behind others in PhD enrollments—Tamil Nadu has four times more PhD students than Andhra Pradesh.

One reason is the lack of postgraduate fee reimbursement. We are studying this issue and focusing on emerging fields like AI, deep tech, and humanities. Plans are underway to establish a Deep Tech Institute in Amaravati and an AI University in Visakhapatnam. We are also working on improving NIRF rankings of government universities,” he explained.