The University Grants Commission (UGC) of India is a statutory body set up by the Indian Union government in 1956, and is charged with coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of higher education. It provides recognition to universities in India, and disburses funds to such recognised universities and colleges. Prof. Ved Prakash is the incumbent Chairman of UGC, India.^[1] Its headquarters is in New Delhi, and six regional centres in Pune, Bhopal, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Guwahati and Bangalore.

UGC was formed in 1946 to oversee the work of the three Central Universities of Aligarh, Banaras and, Delhi. In 1947, the Committee was entrusted with the responsibility of dealing with all the then existing Universities. After independence, the University Education Commission was set up in 1948 under the Chairmanship of S. Radhakrishnan and it recommended that the UGC be reconstituted on the general model of the University Grants Commission of the United kingdom.

UGC was formally inaugurated by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the Minister of Education, Natural Resources and Scientific Research on 28 December 1953.

The UGC was however, formally established in November 1956, by an Act of Parliament as a statutory body of the Government of India. In order to ensure effective region-wise coverage throughout the country, the UGC has decentralised its operations by setting up six regional centres at Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bhopal, Guwahatiand Bangalore. The head office of the UGC is located at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in New Delhi, with two additional bureaus operating from 35, Feroze Shah Road and the South Campus of University of Delhi as well.UGC Act 1956

In 1976, the Union Minister of Education made open the government of India's plans to close down UGC and the related body All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), in favour of a higher regulatory body with more sweeping powers. This goal, proposed by the Higher Education and Research (HE&R) Bill, 2011, intends to replace the UGC with a "National Commission for Higher Education & Research (NCHER)" "for determination, coordination, maintenance and continued enhancement of standards of higher education and research". The bill proposes absorbing the UGC and other academic agencies into this new organisation. Those agencies involved in medicine and law would be exempt from this merger "to set minimum standards for medical and legal education leading to professional practice".^[8] The bill has received opposition from the local governments of the Indian states of Bihar, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, but has received general support. UGC has directed ten institutions to immediately shut down their off-campus centres. In December 2015 the Indian government set a National Institutional of Ranking Framework under UGC which will rank all educational institutes by April 2016.^[11][12] UGC has suggested to all Universities in India to set up an Online Admission System from the academic session commencing in 2016-2017.