UGC Directs Universities to Set Up Students Counselling System

An official circular issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) on March 08, 2018, directed all the universities and affiliated colleges to set up ‘Students Counselling System’ with a motive to address any problems and challenges faced by students in an effective manner. The counselling system will be exclusively for students and play a paramount role in bridging the gap between the student and respective college or university. On the other hand, universities and colleges must also appoint trained psychologists to address the issues of students.

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Constituting Students Counselling System is part of UGC’s ‘Guidelines on Safety of Students on and off Campuses of Higher Educational Institutions’. These guidelines were notified by UGC on April 16, 2015.

The Student Counselling System in higher learning institutes will include trained teacher counsellors whose responsibility will be to remain in close touch with students. Each counsellor will have a limited number of allocated students. The counsellors will have to cater to the students’ intellectual and emotional needs and motive them to shine in their career at regular interval of time.

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Some of the experts were of the opinion that UGC’s latest notification has some problematic issues and lacks clarity. The UGC notification on Students Counselling System will allow teacher counsellors to share personal details, academic details and behaviour patterns of students with hostel wardens who would be in a position to take necessary and corrective action.

Students, particularly female students who are already fed up with regressive rules set by the hostel wardens will have to face more difficulties due to the above-mentioned clause of UGC.