The University Grants Commission (UGC) has written to higher educational institutions (HEIs) to take appropriate action for the establishment of Research and Development Cell (RDC) in their respective institution.
As per UGC, the establishment of RDC in higher educational institutions will pave the way for integrating the key elements-Research, Innovation and Technology development for India's Atma-Nirbhar Bharat Mission and address societal challenges.
The National Education Policy (NEP 2020) focuses on catalysing quality research in the nation and lays the framework to strengthen research ecosystems in higher education. The UGC had earlier released guidelines for the setting up of RDCs.
RDC in each higher education institutions will act as a facilitator for networking and collaborative research with other national and international institutions working in inter- disciplinary, trans-disciplinary and multidisciplinary research areas.
As per UGC, higher educational institutions need to establish collaborations, teams/consortia, partnerships and combined ventures for joint research activities through clustering institutions and organizations to facilitate the exchange of students, scholars and faculty.
Structure:
The Research Governance will have a Research Advisory Council (RAC) headed by the Vice-Chancellor/Principal or his/her nominee as the apex body of RDC.
The Director, nominated by Vice-Chancellor among the distinguished researchers from the university, will head various committees to drive the governance. RDC may form multiple committees to smoothen its functioning with respective committee members nominated by the Director– RDC and approved by RAC.