New Delhi: At the National Council of Educational Research and Training headquarters in Delhi, construction activity is underway and plans are being drawn up across campuses. All this is in line with the Education Ministry granting the autonomous organisation the deemed-to-be-university status. The institution is preparing for a transition that could significantly alter its role in India’s education system.
A notification, issued by the ministry on 30 March, read: “In exercise of powers conferred under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, the Ministry of Education, on the advice of the UGC, hereby declares NCERT… as an Institution deemed to be University under distinct category.”
The “distinct category” recognises NCERT’s specialised national role.
With this new status, officials say the body is working toward launching its own academic programmes, including specialised master’s courses and, eventually, doctoral programmes, while simultaneously expanding infrastructure and setting up new governance structures. The shift marks a departure from NCERT’s long-standing identity as a curriculum and textbook body to a degree-granting institution.
“We used to provide degrees affiliated to other universities, but now we will be able to give out our own degrees,” a senior NCERT official told ThePrint. “We already have integrated teacher‑training courses at the regional centres. Now our dependence on those affiliating universities will end, and we will be able to give students our own NCERT‑awarded degree.”
NCERT had earlier sought ‘Institute of National Importance’ status, which would have allowed it to confer degrees like IITs and IISc. But when that did not materialise, it applied for ‘deemed university’ status.
The new courses
Even as academic and administrative frameworks are being put in place, NCERT has begun preparing for the practical demands of its new status. It’s not just in Delhi, across regional centres, infrastructure is being expanded in anticipation of greater student intake.
“Right now we work mainly for school education, to provide good curriculum, textbooks and teacher trainings,” the official said. “Now that we are going into higher education, we are developing our infrastructure at each centre as per UGC norms.” This includes construction of boys’ and girls’ hostels, expansion of classrooms and laboratories, and the development of a 1,000–seat auditorium and new central administrative buildings.
Academically, the focus is being kept close to NCERT’s core expertise in school education, teacher development, and educational policy. Among the new programmes under consideration, ThePrint has learned, are two–year master’s courses — Master’s in Curriculum Development and Evaluation, Master’s in Education Technology, Master’s in Multilingual Education, Master’s in Education Assessment and Psychometrics, and Master’s in School Governance and Leadership.
“There is a possibility that admissions for some of these programmes could begin as early as the upcoming academic session at the headquarters,” the official said. The goal is also to introduce doctoral programmes in the near future, but details regarding student intake and faculty strength have not yet been finalised.
Officials emphasised that the existing courses will also be enhanced but will mostly continue as is, while the new master’s and doctoral programmes will be introduced as additional offerings. Professor MV Srinivasan, head of NCERT’s department of publication, is said to serve as the nodal officer for this transformation.
The shift also requires a reorganisation of NCERT’s internal governance. Currently, most committees are geared toward school‑level curriculum and teacher training. Under the new deemed‑university structure, NCERT will have to create fresh academic and administrative bodies in line with UGC norms.
“The committees developed are all for school education and new ones are to be formed,” the official quoted above said. The Union Minister of Education will serve as President of the Executive Committee and the General Council, but the full structure is still being worked out. An executive committee meeting scheduled for 8 April at Kartavya Bhawan, chaired by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, is expected to decide the next course of action and finalise key institutional arrangements.
Conditions apply
Even as plans for expansion unfold rapidly, there is palpable anxiety within NCERT about funding and financial sustainability. The notification makes it clear that the institution cannot indulge in commercial or profit‑making activities, even as it begins to function as a deemed university.
“We are connected with the Ministry of Education, we are an apex body for school education and our grant comes from there,” the official said. “We will have to generate our own revenue within the next three years, being a deemed university, for all the expenditures. That is a big challenge in front of us.”
The institution has been explicitly directed not to commercialise its activities. Traditionally, NCERT’s textbooks and training programmes have been kept at minimal or nominal cost, and the worry now is how the institution will balance accessibility and quality with rising operational expenses.
Officials also indicated that there was some initial hesitation within the government about granting deemed university status. “The ministry was not that keen on us getting deemed university status because universities are directly controlled by the UGC and not the Government of India directly,” the official said. That tension may yet shape how NCERT navigates its new autonomy in the coming years.
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In the run–up to the new status
The move to upgrade NCERT’s status followed a multi–year process. In September 2022, NCERT approached the University Grants Commission (UGC) seeking ‘deemed to be university’ status under a distinct category. In August 2023, the UGC issued a letter of intent, laying out conditions that NCERT had to meet, including strengthening academic and research capacity and aligning with UGC norms.
“When the letter of intent was given, we had to fulfil requirements such as how we will teach, where and what we will we teach,” the official said. NCERT submitted its compliance report in November 2025, which was cleared by a UGC expert committee and approved in January this year. The final notification, issued by the Ministry of Education on 30 March 2026, formally declares NCERT a deemed university.
The notification mandates that NCERT “shall take appropriate steps to commence research programmes as well as doctoral and innovative academic programmes”.
It also brings NCERT firmly within the UGC’s regulatory ambit, a key concern raised by critics earlier. The institution will also be required to participate in national rankings issued by NIRF, seek accreditation from bodies such as NAAC and NBA, and adopt digital academic systems such as Academic Bank of Credits (ABC).
The notification covers NCERT itself and its six constituent units: the Regional Institutes of Education (RIEs) in Ajmer, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Mysuru, North‑East Regional Institute of Education, Shillong, and the Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education, Bhopal. The declaration is subject to eleven conditions, including adherence to UGC norms, expansion into new academic areas, and a bar on commercial or profit‑making activities.
Until now, NCERT conducted undergraduate and postgraduate teacher training programmes through its RIEs, which were affiliated with local universities across five states. These included Barkatullah University in Bhopal, MDS University in Ajmer, the University of Mysore, Utkal University in Bhubaneswar, and North-Eastern Hill University in Shillong. The RIEs required approval from their respective affiliated universities to introduce new courses.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)