"The Ministry of Education, on the advice of the University Grants Commission (UGC), has declared NCERT, along with its six constituent units, as a deemed-to-be university under a distinct category," an official notification issued Thursday stated.

The six constituents include the regional institutes of education (RIEs) in Ajmer, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Mysuru and Shillong, in addition to the Bhopal-based Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education.

In March 2023, the Centre had approved a proposal of the UGC to grant deemed-to-be status to the NCERT. It was granted under the "de-novo" category, a specialised system under which an university can apply to the UGC to set up a new institution that imparts education in unique and emerging areas of knowledge not offered anywhere else.

Under Section 3 of the UGC Act 1956, deemed-to-be-university status is granted to institutions wherein they have the freedom to design courses, set admissions criteria, frame curricula and award degrees independently.

However, while granting this status, the NCERT has been asked to not pursue "commercial" and "profit-making" activities, and ensure that the courses taught are within the mandate of the UGC. Courses should be "only in accordance with the norms and guidelines issued by the UGC, from time to time, on the subject", the notification said.

After the change in status, NCERT will now be under the ambit of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), adhere to accreditation criteria of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and the National Board of Accreditation (NBA), as well as implement credit systems mandated by the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC).