"Higher Education System" — Practice

Question 1

A university is established by an Act of the Parliament of India and funded chiefly by the central government. This is classified as a:
(a) Central university  (b) State university  (c) Deemed-to-be university  (d) Private university

Accepted Answer

Establishment by an Act of Parliament with central funding is the defining feature of a central university.

Answer: (a). Trap (b) is instead established by an Act of a State Legislature. Trap (c) is not established by any founding Act at all — its status is conferred separately by the central government on UGC's recommendation. Trap (d) is established through a State (or central) Act sponsored by a named private trust or society, not primary central funding.

Question 2

An institution has not been established by any specific founding Act of its own, but has instead been granted university-like degree-awarding autonomy by the central government, acting on UGC's recommendation, under a specific section of the UGC Act. This describes a:
(a) Central university  (b) Institution of National Importance  (c) Deemed-to-be university  (d) Constituent college

Accepted Answer

This is precisely the mechanism, under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, by which 'deemed-to-be university' status is conferred, without the institution having its own founding Act.

Answer: (c). Trap (a) requires its own Act of Parliament, which the question explicitly rules out. Trap (b) is a separate category altogether, granted by a specific Act of Parliament, not a UGC-recommended status. Trap (d) refers to a college owned by a university, an entirely different structural level.

Question 3

Which statutory body is responsible specifically for regulating teacher-education programmes and institutions, such as B.Ed. courses, in India?
(a) AICTE  (b) NCTE  (c) NBA  (d) NAAC

Accepted Answer

The NCTE (National Council for Teacher Education), a statutory body under the NCTE Act, 1993, regulates teacher-education programmes and institutions specifically.

Answer: (b). Trap (a) regulates technical and professional education (engineering, management) instead. Trap (c) and trap (d) are both accreditation bodies (programme-level and institution-level respectively), not regulators of teacher education.

Question 4

Which body accredits an entire higher education institution as a whole, as distinct from accrediting a single technical or professional programme within it?
(a) NBA  (b) AICTE  (c) NCTE  (d) NAAC

Accepted Answer

NAAC is specifically responsible for institution-level accreditation, distinct from NBA's programme-level accreditation of individual technical/professional courses.

Answer: (d). Trap (a) is the programme-level accreditor, the reverse of what the question asks. Trap (b) is a regulator of technical education, not an accreditor. Trap (c) regulates teacher education, unrelated to institutional accreditation.

Question 5

As per NEP 2020's proposed reform, the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI):
(a) Is a proposed single regulator intended to replace UGC and AICTE, organised into four verticals, but not yet an operating body in place of them  (b) Has already fully replaced the UGC and AICTE as the sole functioning regulator  (c) Is an autonomous accreditation body already functioning under the UGC since 1994  (d) Refers to a renamed version of the AICTE with no change in structure

Accepted Answer

HECI is a proposed structural reform under NEP 2020, envisioned with four verticals (regulation, standard-setting, funding, accreditation), but it remains proposed rather than an already-operating replacement for UGC and AICTE.

Answer: (a). Trap (b) wrongly treats the proposal as already implemented. Trap (c) confuses HECI with NAAC, a genuinely existing 1994 accreditation body. Trap (d) understates HECI's proposed scope, which spans far more than a mere renaming of AICTE.

Question 6

Under NEP 2020's four-year undergraduate structure, a student exiting after exactly two years of completed study receives a:
(a) Certificate  (b) Bachelor's degree  (c) Diploma  (d) Bachelor's degree with Research

Accepted Answer

NEP 2020's exit-point structure awards a diploma specifically after two years of completed study, between the 1-year certificate and the 3-year Bachelor's degree.

Answer: (c). Trap (a) corresponds to just 1 year, not 2. Trap (b) and trap (d) correspond to 3 and 4 years of study respectively, both later stages than the one described.

Question 7

Under NEP 2020's four-year undergraduate structure, which of the following correctly matches each exit stage to the years of study completed?
(a) Certificate after 2 years, Diploma after 1 year  (b) Certificate after 1 year, Diploma after 2 years, Bachelor's after 3 years, Bachelor's with Research after 4 years  (c) Bachelor's degree after 2 years, Bachelor's with Research after 3 years  (d) Diploma after 3 years, Bachelor's degree after 4 years

Accepted Answer

The correct NEP 2020 sequence is certificate after 1 year, diploma after 2 years, Bachelor's degree after 3 years, and Bachelor's degree with Research after the full 4 years.

Answer: (b). Trap (a) swaps the 1-year and 2-year stages. Trap (c) and trap (d) both shift the stages by a year in ways that don't match the actual structure.

Question 8

The Academic Bank of Credits (ABC), introduced under NEP 2020, primarily functions to:
(a) Provide student loans for higher education  (b) Rank universities annually based on research output  (c) Replace UGC as India's higher education regulator  (d) Digitally store and enable transfer of academic credits earned by a student across different recognised institutions

Accepted Answer

The ABC is a digital mechanism that stores a student's academic credits earned across recognised institutions and enables their transfer and accumulation toward a final degree — the specific infrastructure that makes NEP 2020's multiple entry-exit structure workable.

Answer: (d). Trap (a) invents an unrelated financial-aid function. Trap (b) confuses it with a ranking framework, a separate exercise entirely. Trap (c) wrongly assigns it a regulatory role it does not have.

Question 9

Before the enactment of the IIM Act, 2017, the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs):
(a) Awarded post-graduate diplomas (PGDM), not formal degrees  (b) Were classified as state universities  (c) Were regulated by the NCTE  (d) Had no accreditation of any kind

Accepted Answer

Before the IIM Act, 2017, the IIMs awarded post-graduate diplomas (PGDM) rather than formal degrees, despite their long-standing academic reputation; the 2017 Act specifically empowered them to award degrees and declared them Institutions of National Importance.

Answer: (a). Trap (b) misclassifies their pre-2017 status, which was never as a state university. Trap (c) names an unrelated regulator (teacher education), not one governing management institutes. Trap (d) is factually incorrect — the IIMs held recognised standing well before 2017, even without formal degree-granting power.

Question 10

Institutions of National Importance, such as the IITs and (since 2017) the IIMs, are granted this status through:
(a) A recommendation of the NAAC  (b) A notification issued by the AICTE  (c) An Act of Parliament  (d) A state government order

Accepted Answer

Institutions of National Importance are declared as such specifically by an Act of Parliament, a distinct route from how central, state, or deemed universities are established.

Answer: (c). Trap (a) and trap (b) both name accreditation or regulatory bodies with no power to confer this status. Trap (d) names the wrong level of government entirely for a nationally significant designation.

Question 11

A college is directly owned and maintained by its parent university itself, rather than being a separate institution merely affiliated to it. This college is classified as a:
(a) Affiliated college  (b) Constituent college  (c) Autonomous college  (d) Deemed college

Accepted Answer

A college directly owned and maintained by the university itself, rather than merely affiliated to it, is specifically termed a constituent college.

Answer: (b). Trap (a) describes a separately owned college merely following the university's curriculum and exams. Trap (c) describes an affiliated college granted independent curriculum/examination autonomy, a different arrangement from direct ownership. Trap (d) is not a standard category in this classification at all.

Question 12

India's largest university, and the pioneering institution of the country's Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system, established in 1985 by an Act of Parliament, is:
(a) SWAYAM  (b) NCTE  (c) INFLIBNET  (d) IGNOU

Accepted Answer

IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University), established in 1985 by an Act of Parliament, is India's largest university and the pioneer of the country's open and distance learning system.

Answer: (d). Trap (a) is a MOOC platform, not a university. Trap (b) is a teacher-education regulator. Trap (c) is a UGC library-networking centre; none of the three is a university at all.

Question 13

The requirement that environmental studies be taught as a compulsory subject to undergraduate students across all disciplines in India was introduced following:
(a) Supreme Court directives connected to the M.C. Mehta environmental litigation, implemented by the UGC  (b) A direct provision in NEP 2020  (c) A recommendation of the NCTE  (d) An AICTE technical education circular

Accepted Answer

This nationwide requirement traces to Supreme Court directives connected to the M.C. Mehta environmental litigation in the early 1990s, which the UGC then implemented as a mandatory undergraduate component across disciplines.

Answer: (a). Trap (b) misattributes a much older requirement to a 2020 policy document. Trap (c) and trap (d) both name regulators with no role in originating this specific mandate.

Practice — "Higher Education System"

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