UGC set to launch online students' grievance portal

PUNE: The students at universities and affiliated colleges will soon have the option of registering their grievances related to admissions, unfair practices and other issues on an online portal. The University Grants Commission (UGC) is all set to launch an 'Online students grievance redressal portal' to facilitate this process.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) is all set to launch an 'Online students grievance redressal portal' to facilitate this process.
"The portal would enable the commission and the universities/colleges to understand the nature of students' grievances, monitor and redress the same within a short time. It will also help in taking policy decisions and implement the same to mitigate such grievances," UGC secretary Jaspal S Sandhu said in a letter to the vice-chancellors of all universities. The move comes ahead of the ongoing admission season for AY 2014-15.
Sandhu has urged all universities to appoint a person in-charge of the grievance redressal cell as nodal officer to monitor and respond to students' grievances lodged onto this portal. "The universities need to furnish details of the nodal officer so appointed, to the UGC within days at sgportalugc@gmail.com," the letter stated.
The details relating to the nodal officer should include their name, designation, address, email ID and office and mobile contact numbers. "The nodal officers, in addition to handling grievances of their university will also be responsible for handling grievances of colleges affiliated to their university and report the action taken and status of grievances on the portal," Sandhu stated.
According to senior academicians at the University of Pune, which has over 50 on-campus postgraduate departments and 811 colleges spread across Pune, Ahmednagar and Nashik districts and a collective student strength of nearly seven lakh, the online portal would prove to be of immense help for the students in voicing their concerns relating to a range of issues.
The issues could be as varied as irregularities in the conduct of admissions, unfair practices adopted by the institutions, for instance, retaining key documents when a student opts out of the institution in favour of another institution etc., complaints of ragging and issues related to inadequate infrastructure, hostel and refractory facilities.
Apart from the UoP, Pune is also home to six deemed universities and a host of independent academic institutions.
The portal would enable the commission and the universities and colleges to understand the nature of students' grievances, monitor and redress the same.