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UGC NEP SAARTHI Corner: Student Ambassadors Drive NEP 2020 Awareness Across 12 Universities in 3 States
News Date: The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is now moving beyond the realm of policy documents and institutional bulletins. Students are actively engaging in the communication process in the NEP implementation and awareness drive. In its new “NEP SAARTHI Corner”, the University Grants Commission (UGC) highlighted student ambassadors undertaking initiatives at higher education institutions in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Chhattisgarh.
Every Sunday, the UGC’s “NEP SAARTHI Corner” presents student ambassadors working in 12 higher education institutions in UP, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh. The corner captures the positive role that students play in the security of educational reforms. Stakeholders are asked to follow the ‘NEP SAARTHI Corner’ each Sunday to see the activities of student ambassadors working for NEP 2020 awareness.
What Is the UGC NEP SAARTHI Initiative?
The UGC NEP SAARTHI Initiative is designed to provide students with opportunities to engage with the implementation of NEP 2020 at their respective universities. NEP SAARTHI means Student Ambassador for Academic Reform in Transforming Higher Education in India. According to the UGC’s NEP SAARTHI Framework, the goal of the initiative is to build knowledge among students regarding NEP 2020 and how they can contribute to its implementation. At the same time, it provides a platform for students to share their concerns/suggestions regarding the changes being implemented by the UGC.
The purpose of the program is not just to inform, but to provide students with an opportunity to understand, analyse, and advocate academic reforms at their individual institutions.
12 Higher Education Institutions Included in the Latest NEP SAARTHI Corner Sanctioned by UGC
The NEP SAARTHI program at UGC helps showcase institutions in different states and schools across the country. On the Uttar Pradesh front, some of the colleges are:
- Noida Institute of Engineering and Technology
- T.S. Mishra University
- United University
- UP University of Medical Sciences
- Varun Arjun University
These institutions cover different domains of higher education, including professional and engineering, medical, and multi-disciplinary and learning.
Uttarakhand
From Uttarakhand, some institutions that made the list are:
- Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya
- Graphic Era University
- Quantum University
- Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University
- Shri Guru Ram Rai University
The NEP SAARTHI program is keen on building the coverage of the higher education ecosystem in both urban and regional areas, and this list reflects that.
Chhattisgarh
Two institutions from Chhattisgarh are included here:
- Dr. C.V. Raman University
- Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya
The volume therefore incorporates student ambassadors from 12 higher education institutions in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh.
Why Student Ambassadors Matter for NEP 2020
One of the defining aspects of the NEP SAARTHI model is that the students are the primary audience of the reform communication.
NEP 2020 aims to put into motion a variety of changes in higher education, such as more choice, flexibility, multidisciplinarity, and more student-oriented paths along with more research and innovation.
Communicating these changes is not merely a matter of publishing internal memos. The student ambassadors are meant to explain the lingo of higher education policy to their peers. The UGC's NEP SAARTHI framework has a clear focus on three different aims:
- informing students about the NEP 2020 plans
- stimulating students’ involvement in reforms
- creating feedback tools so that the UGC is aware of the problems students experience and can fix them.
This makes it highly relevant at the campus level since this is where educational reforms will impact students’ everyday practices the most.
From Policy to Campus Conversations
Another NEP SAARTHI Corner has some interesting details on how education reforms can traverse through institutions. The program is substituting a top-down approach in this instance, where only administrators and faculty are expected to communicate top-down, by creating a student-driven layer of engagement. In the previous documentation of institutions, NEP SAARTHIs were documented to participate in awareness activities, discussions, competitions, and outreach activities/events organised in the context of the NEP renewal.
This student-to-student approach can facilitate conversations on academic reforms at the campus level and address the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that students have when they want to know about changes to their program, opportunities to learn, and their engagement in the broader campus activities.
UGC's Extended Outreach of NEP SAARTHI
The UGC UTSAH (UGC Translating the Spirit of Academic Higher Education) portal has an NEP SAARTHI Corner with updated information and guidelines on the initiative and a list of all selected NEP SAARTHIs. The portal identifies UTSAH as a tracking and supportive initiative undertaken by UGC to implement the NEP 2020 at various institutions of higher education.
The UGC Guidelines section also has the Revised Guidelines for NEP SAARTHI - Student Ambassador for Academic Reform in Transforming Higher Education in India published in 2024. The “NEP SAARTHI Corner” that is published on a weekly basis provides student ambassadors the opportunity to write about their activities at individual institutions, which complements the formal framework.
The Impact of NEP SAARTHI on Students
Students must know about a policy like the NEP SAARTHI. However, this illustrates to students more than just a policy. It outlines the ability to innovate in the space of policy reform. The platform allows students to analyse and understand reforms, discuss them with colleagues, make available reform opportunities known, and then vocalise their experiences on campus policy through constructive reviews.
Possibly the most vital aspect of this initiative is not the name SAARTHI, but the foundation of this project: the reform of higher education with the intent for students to understand and have their say in the process.
Final Thoughts
The latest UGC NEP SAARTHI in the Corner shows how the NEP 2020 is focused on the university and college communities especially in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Chhattisgarh. Showcasing 12 institutions, the initiative focuses on the student role in reforming higher education. The UGC has stated that the NEP SAARTHI Corner will be available every Sunday allowing for continuous visibility on the NEP 2020 student ambassadors and the reforms they are undertaking.
The larger importance of this example is probably the easiest to understand: when students convey reform in higher education, the policies cease to be viewed as governmental dossiers and start to be represented as discussions on campus.
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