The Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be University) has found a place among 60 better performing institutions of higher learning in the country which have been granted special status by the central government, enabling them in starting new courses and setting up off-campus centres without requiring to obtain approvals.

The list of the 60 institutions, comprising central universities, state universities, private universities and deemed to be universities, were released by the Union Minister for HRD, Mr Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi a couple of days ago.

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These institutions, while remaining within the ambit of the University Grants Commission (UGC), will now have greater autonomy to start new courses including skill development courses, set up off-campus centres etc.

SOA, which has been reaccredited with the highest grade by the NAAC in November 2015, was placed 20th among all universities in the country as per the ranking conducted in 2017 by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).

In the ranking, SOA was positioned 33rd among all institutions of higher learning in the country, said a release issued by the varsity.