Keeping in view the substantial increase in cyber-crime incidents, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked universities and colleges to strengthen their cyber security systems. The UGC has instructed higher educational institutes to prepare a calendar of events and organise awareness campaigns, regular competitions, hackathons, and workshops on cyber security on campuses. These workshops and events will skill students to counter or deal with new-age crimes, said the Commission.

The UGC has also asked the educational institutes to conduct these events at regular intervals with adherence to the Covid-19 protocols and social distancing norms.

The universities and colleges have also been instructed to share the action taken by them on cyber security issues on the University Activity Portal of the UGC. The official statement reads, “It is once again requested to give wide publicity amongst students, faculty and stakeholders about the initiatives of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (l4C) of Ministry of Home Affairs MHA’s Twitter handle @CyberDost, the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal which provides updates and advisories at regular intervals for prevention of cyber-crimes.”

This is not the first time that the UGC has urged universities and colleges to strengthen cyber security. Earlier this year in February too, the UGC had requested the higher education institutions (HEIs) to strengthen cyber security to tackle the unforeseen challenges of cyber-crimes. The commission had also instructed to develop an ecosystem for cyber security on their campuses.

Meanwhile, the UGC has started the registration process for scholarships for the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) willing to pursue postgraduate students in professional courses. Candidates fulfilling the required eligibility criteria will need to apply online through the National Scholarship Portal on or before November 11. Once the applications will be received by candidates, the respective institutions will verify the applications and supporting documents.

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