Team Siliconindia

• UGC bans ODL/online healthcare & allied courses (Psychology, Nutrition, Biotechnology, etc.) under the NCAHP Act from July-August 2025 session.
• Recognition for such programmes to be withdrawn, and HEIs strictly barred from new enrolments in these specialisations.
• UGC reiterates warning on unapproved foreign collaborations, stating degrees/diplomas from such tie-ups will be invalid in India.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has instructed the higher education institutions (HEIs) to stop providing programmes in healthcare and allied fields under the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP) Act, 2021, through Open and Distance Learning (ODL) or online mode from the academic session of July-August 2025.

The move, approved during the 592nd UGC meeting on July 23, 2025, comes after the UGC received a report from the 24th Distance Education Bureau Working Group meeting conducted on April 22, 2025. The restriction is applicable to specialisations such as Psychology, Microbiology, Food and Nutrition Science, Biotechnology, Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics.

As per the directive, no university and college will be allowed to launch such programmes in ODL or online mode from the 2025-26 session. Institutions that have already been granted recognition for conducting these courses will have the same withdrawn by the UGC.

Where a programme is providing several specialisations, for example, the bachelor of arts degree with majors in English, Hindi, Punjabi, economics, history, mathematics, public administration, philosoply, political science, statistics, human rights and duties, Sanskrit, psychology, geography, sociology or women studies, withdrawal will be done only for the healthcare-related specialisation.

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The UGC has also directed HEIs not to enrol students in these courses for the July-August 2025 session and onwards. All stakeholders have been instructed to abide by the decision strictly.

Previously, the regulator of higher education had issued a new public warning to students and HEIs against entering into unrecognized partnerships with overseas educational providers. The University Grants Commission (UGC) again made it clear that any degree or diploma earned through such an arrangement will be deemed invalid in India and will be treated as unrecognized by the Commission.

According to UGC norms, all foreign collaborations are required to be given clear permission under the 2022 and 2023 guidelines that regulate joint degrees, dual degrees, and establishing foreign campuses in India.

The new clarification follows an earlier notification dated December 12, 2023, expressing concern at unapproved collaborations between Indian HEIs and foreign institutions. Even after prior warnings, the UGC reported that various colleges and EdTech platforms are still running joint or online degree and diploma courses with foreign institutions that do not have its approval.