(1)The Council shall meet as and when necessary at such time and place as the Chairperson may think fit.
(2) The Council shall regulate its own procedure for the conduct of its business and the exercise of its powers and functions under this Act.
(3) All orders and decisions of the Council shall be authenticated by the Chairperson or any other officer of the Council duly authorised by the Chairperson in this behalf.
CHAPTER III POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF THE COUNCIL
9.The Council shall perform all or any of the following functions, namely:-
(i) Strategy and Planning:
(a) prepare the State Higher Education Plan (Perspective Plan, Annual Plan and Budget Plan) ;
(b) provide state institutions input for creating their Plans for implementation; and
(c) co-ordinate between apex bodies, regulatory institutions and the Government.
(ii) Monitoring and Evaluation:
(a) monitor the implementation of State Higher Education Plan;
(b) evaluate State institutions on the basis of norms and key performance index(KPI) developed under Rashtriya Uchchatar Vacancies, etc., not to invalidate the proceedings of the Council.
Procedure to be regulated by the Council.
Powers and functions of the Council.
Officers and other employees of the Council.
8 Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA)and the Council may, for its own use, develop additional norms as it may think fit;
(c) create and maintain the management information systems;
(d) compile and maintain periodic statistics at state and institutional level;
(e) up-date details containing every information for easy and wider access to the persons of interest through its own website;
(f) specify norms and mechanisms to measure the productivity of research programmes funded by the Council ; and
(g) develop mechanisms for social audit of the processes in the Council and obtain public feedback on its performance and achievements.
(iii) Quality assurance and academic functions:
(a) specify norms and mechanisms to enhance the quality of faculty ;
(b) specify norms and mechanisms to enhance quality of examination;
(c) specify norms and mechanisms to give approval for setting up new institutions/colleges;
(d) promote and protect the autonomy of higher educational institutions for the free pursuit of knowledge and innovation, and for facilitating access, inclusion and opportunities to all, and providing for comprehensive and holistic growth of higher education and research in a competitive global environment, through reforms and innovation ;
(e) specify norms and standards for grant of authorization, to a University or a higher educational Institution empowered, by or under law, to award any degree or diploma, to commence its first academic operations and it should be within the available structure of the Institutions in shape of infrastructure and manpower ;
(f) develop from time to time, a national curriculum framework with specific reference to new or emerging or inter- 9 disciplinary fields of knowledge and to provide a vision and guide Universities and Colleges in recognizing and revising course curricula ;
(g) specify norms and mechanisms to maintain quality of curriculum;
(h) specify requirements of academic quality for the award of any degree or diploma in any field of higher education and research;
(i) specify norms of academic quality for accreditation and benchmarking of higher educational Institutions ;
(j) specify norms and processes for establishment and winding up of a University or College ;
(k) specify norms of academic quality for a University to affiliate Colleges;
(l) encourage joint and cross-disciplinary programmes between and amongst Universities and other higher educational Institutions ;
(m) promote synergy of research in Universities and Colleges with research in other agencies or laboratories ;
(n) specify norms and mechanisms for transparent, efficient and accountable governance in Universities, Colleges and other higher educational Institutions ;
(o) promote use of technology in learning, especially deployment of ICT (Information and Communications Technology ) tools ;
(p) encourage, through the creation of an enabling environment, Universities to become self-regulatory bodies for the maintenance of academic quality in higher education and research and in Colleges affiliated to it ;
(q) develop policies and processes that would create an enabling environment for eligible youth to take up teaching and research as occupation and career;
(r) develop policies and processes that would enable qualitative and meaningful interaction between students and teachers in higher educational Institutions ; and 10
(s) undertake research to assess future knowledge manpower requirements, both in the short-term and in the long-term, in different fields of knowledge for meeting the needs of the economy.
(iv) Advisory functions:
(a) advise the State Government on strategic investments in higher education ;
(b) advise Universities on statute and ordinance formulation ;
(c) advise on matters of regulation of existing private Institutions and permission to new ones ;
(d) advise on Open and Distance Education strategies ; and
(e) advise, when called upon to do so, by the Central Government and the State Government, as the case may be, on policies relating to higher education and research in any field of knowledge therein.
(v) Funding Function:
(a) determine the methodology for timely transfer of State’s share of funds to Institutions ;
(b) disburse funds to State Universities and Colleges on the basis of the State Higher Education Plan and transparent norms ; and
(c) specify sources, norms and mechanisms for financing higher educational Institutions.
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CHAPTER IV FINANCE, ACCOUNTS AND AUDIT