Amid a raging controversy over its directive to the IITs to align their degrees with recognised ones, UGC has made it clear that the communication should not be "misconstrued" as an encroachment on the autonomy of IITs.
It said the provision for specification of degrees by UGC was a "conscious" decision taken by the Centre for a number of reasons which not only includes ensuring the uniformity in terms of award of degrees but also for the purposes of employability and mobility of the students across the country.
"Each and every degree awarding institution has full autonomy to offer the kind of program that their statutory bodies deem fit," the UGC said.
"But if a particular degree that they wish to award is not in the list of specified degrees the same can be added in the list after obtaining the approval of the central government following the due process," it said in a clarification.
The clarification came in wake of IITs heads expressing "surprise" over the directive to them as they are governed by their own set of rules and laws.
UGC Chairman Ved Prakash asked where is the question of encroaching upon the authority of IITs or any other institution as the Commission has been given the authority of specifying degrees by the government of India.
"It is a question of ensuring uniformity in nomenclature of degrees. It is a question of facilitating mobility of students from one institution to another. It is a question of ensuring employability," he said.
