It has hardly been two months since UGC breathed a new life in three centers of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and now a notice from the UGC brought back again the fear of shut down of the centers. A notice was issued by the UGC last week on its official website to inform the institutes that the schemes under its 12th Plan will only continue till the end of September this year.
The notice from UGC reads "All the ongoing schemes of the UGC under the Plan Head would continue up to 30.09.2017 and expenditure therein would be admitted up to 30.09.2017. Their further continuance beyond 30.09.2017 would depend on the outcome of the review by the UGC".
The issued notice once again raised the question on the future of three centers of TISS- Centre of Excellence for Human Rights Education, Advance Centre for Womenʼs Studies and Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policies.
Earlier, this year in March, all center were granted an extension of one year on the demand of the students and teachers of the center were also reinstated.
TISS Director S Parasuraman admitted the recent notice has caught the administration unawares. “We had been told by the UGC that the centres would get a year-long extension. However, I received a notice on Tuesday that says the extension is till September,” said Parasuraman. “We were not prepared for this sudden decision. The administration will now consider its options and take an informed decision,” he added.