UGC Releases Guidelines For Boosting Industry-University Linkage

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has formulated guidelines to foster collaboration between industry and academia. The guidelines titled ' A Sustainable and Vibrant University-Industry Linkage system for Indian Universities' aim at developing a robust ecosystem for research innovation and knowledge transfer. The guidelines are available on the UGC website and all the Higher Education Institutions have been directed to implement it.

Stating the mechanisms that can help in boosting Research and Development (R&D) through University-Industry (UI) linkages, the Universities/Institutes/Colleges and Industries clusters have been asked to employ the following measures-

-Educational institutions can create industry cluster at the state level. Each cluster may be led by an institute of Central/State Government in the region.

-The cluster may be entrusted with the responsibility of addressing the technological needs of the region in association with the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)/ Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI)/Department of Industries of state governments.

-Every educational University/Institute/College may create an Industry Relations Cell (IRC) for collaborations and every Industry, including the MSMEs, may create a University Relations Cell (URC) to enable the envisaged collaboration.

-The institute serving as the cluster head needs to establish a Regional R&D Advisory Committee (RAC) for advising the R&D growth in the cluster.