New Equity Regulations for Higher Education: Explained

• UGC mandates equity frameworks ensuring inclusion discrimination support mechanisms across all higher education institutions nationwide.
• Institutions must establish Equal Opportunity Centres committees squads to address grievances and promote diversity campus.
• UGC can penalise non-compliant institutions including derecognition funding withdrawal and suspension of academic programmes.

Notifying a new series of regulations to facilitate greater equity and prevent discrimination in all universities in India has been formally approved by the University Grants Commission (UGC). These regulations have been named University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026.

All universities, colleges, and deemed universities have been asked to develop a mechanism to facilitate treatment in favor of such disadvantaged groups in higher education institutions.

These notifications were a result of directions received from directions in a case filed by the relatives of Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi in the Supreme Court through a PIL regarding suicide cases due to caste discrimination on campus.

The new system also requires the establishment of an Equal Opportunity Centre (EOC) in each institution. It will be charged with the responsibility of implementing the equity policy and promoting diversity and academic guidance.

This will be carried out together with an Equity Committee composed of representatives from the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), the Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), and women. The two bodies will address grievances of discrimination and offer support to the complainants.

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Apart from these bodies, all institutions are also mandated to establish Equity Squads to ensure that all forms of discrimination are closely watched. In addition to this, there should be grievance-reporting mechanisms open to students and staff, including online complaint forms or a 24×7 helpline number.

The objective here is to ensure that campuses are safe, free, or unbiased when it comes to discrimination on grounds of caste, religion, gender, racial, or disabled discrimination.

The rules also provide a mechanism for monitoring, which will take place at the national level, to check the implementation of the rules in institutions. If any HEI does not comply with the rules, then the UGC can impose severe punishment on the institute.

The punishment can include non-recognition, the schemes of the UGC, and the suspension of the programs related to the award of degrees. On the whole, the new rules will help to institutionalize equity and make the Indian campuses more just.