Star College Scheme For Strengthening Of Science Education And Training At Undergraduate Level(SCSSSETUL)

Overview

About SCSSSETUL

The application under the Star College Scheme is written by a college and signed by its principal, and the money lands with its science departments. There is no student form anywhere in the process, and the grant's own terms bar a studentship being paid out of it. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) began the programme in 2008 with 30 colleges and has since supported science departments in more than 300 colleges across the country (Star College Programme, DBT). For anyone studying B.Sc. at one of them, the useful question is narrower: what changes in the laboratory once that grant arrives.

DBT runs the support in three stages, and a college moves through them in order. Stage-I is the strengthening stage and pays for three years. Stage-II is Star Status, also three years, and is what the phrase "star college" on a college website usually refers to. Stage-III makes a college a Star Mentor College for two years, and at that stage networking, handholding and outreach stop being optional extras and become a condition of continuing (Stage-III criteria, DBT).

The myScheme record for this scheme tags its beneficiary as both an individual and an institution, and that tag is the one line worth arguing with. Every condition the same record then lists is about a college: its courses, its in-house faculty expertise, its laboratories, its UGC status (myScheme). Nothing on it asks for a student's marks, category or family income, because nothing is being given to a student.

Scale gives a sense of what that means for students in aggregate. Launching the programme's mentorship component in November 2021, the Minister of State for Science and Technology said 278 undergraduate colleges were then being supported, and that more than 1.5 lakh students had been reached in the preceding five years (Press Information Bureau). Those students were reached through their departments, not through a scholarship roll.

Who runs it

Provider

At a glance

Key details

Calendar

Important dates

DBT announces the call annually and advertises it on its website, and there is no fixed calendar date a college can plan against.

The most recent call posted on the portal is for the Rural and NER categories. Its advertisement set the last date for submission of proposals at 31 March, 2025 (DBT call for proposals), while the notice board entry linking to it reads until 30th April 2025 (Star College portal, DBT). Nothing newer than that call sits on the notice board, so a college waiting for its window watches both the DBT website and that board.

The category a college applies in has its own history. Colleges were split into Urban and Rural categories from 2018-19, a focus on aspirational districts was added within the rural category from 2019-20, and a separate NER category was introduced from 2022-23 (Star College Programme, DBT).

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

The college must be a Government, Government-aided or autonomous college included under Section 2(f) and 12(B) of the UGC Act, 1956, and it has to sit in UGC's College Category. University departments and colleges outside that category are not eligible at all (Stage-I criteria, DBT).

Above that legal floor sit the teaching conditions. A college needs at least four B.Sc. courses in basic or applied sciences such as botany, zoology, applied life sciences, microbiology, physiology, biochemistry or biotechnology, and three courses are enough under the rural category. Across all participating departments taken together there must be at least four teachers holding a PhD, and two under the rural category. Independent laboratories sized to the sanctioned student strength, lecture halls of adequate capacity, a library, projection facilities and internet-connected computers are each named separately.

Not-for-profit colleges and Government-aided colleges choose the Academic Institutions (Private) option while submitting online and have to supply a DARPAN ID. Where a proposal comes from a rural area, the department, the committee examining it or the Task Force may grant relaxation from any of the criteria set out above (Stage-I criteria, DBT).

Who cannot apply

Exclusions

Four bars are worth knowing before a department is written into a proposal. Postgraduate courses and certificate courses do not qualify. A department of the applying college that DBT has already supported cannot be put up again under the strengthening stage. The programme will not fund the launch of a new undergraduate biotechnology course, because its purpose is better practical training inside courses that already run, named in the call as botany, zoology, chemistry, physics, microbiology, biochemistry, biotechnology, bioinformatics, mathematics, electronics and computer science conferring a B.Sc. degree (DBT call for proposals).

Rejection carries its own arithmetic. A college that was not recommended may revise its proposal and come back after a gap of one year. A college rejected in two consecutive rounds, whether at screening or after its presentation to the Task Force, cannot apply again until a cooling period of two years has passed. The scheme guidelines apply the same two-year wait to a college whose support was discontinued after a round, and add that a fresh non-recurring grant for such a college depends on justifying how the previous grant under that head was used (Star College Scheme guidelines, DBT).

Continuation

Renewal conditions

There is no application to renew and no automatic second term. The support is sanctioned for three years, and whether it continues rests on an evaluation of the programme in that college. Once the three years are done, the college becomes eligible to be considered for Star College status by an expert committee, whose decision is final (terms and conditions, DBT).

Money inside a live sanction is not guaranteed either. The annual recurring outlays shown in the sanction order are described as indicative, no claim can be laid on them, and each release turns on the previous grant having been used (terms and conditions, DBT).

Adding a department mid-programme has its own clock. A college has to finish one full cycle of three years with the departments the original grant named, and it can only ask for more if its final review graded it Good or above. The guidelines close that door once five years of implementation have passed in that particular grantee college (Star College Scheme guidelines, DBT).

What you get

Award & benefits

The grant is calculated per science department, with two heads paid per college on top. These are the figures DBT printed in the scheme guidelines issued with its 2022 call, and the sanction order is what binds any particular college.

Equipment is where the ceiling bites. The scheme encourages buying several copies of the routine instruments a UG practical needs, within a ceiling of Rs 1.00 lakh, and anything costing more than one lakh and up to three lakhs needs DBT's prior approval before it is bought.

The recurring head is deliberately pointed at the bench rather than the store room. A college has to devise a mechanism ensuring that at least 60% of the recurring grant goes to consumables for its UG laboratories, and no equipment may be bought out of recurring money at all (terms and conditions, DBT). Kits for UG practicals are to be avoided except where they are absolutely essential, and equipment bought under the scheme is expected to be converted into experiments and used in student projects and practicals. That combination is why a supported department can suddenly run a practical for every student instead of one demonstration for the class.

• Nature of Financial Assistance
• One-time non-recurring grant of ₹10,00,000 per science department, recurring grant of ₹3,00,000 per science department per year for a period of three years, subject to satisfactory annual review, and ₹1,00,000, ₹2,00,000 and ₹3,00,000 subject to their departments for mentoring and monitoring per college and ₹1,00,000 per year under contingency head will be provided.
• The scheme encourages the purchase of multiple copies of routine equipment required for science practicals in UG courses within a ceiling of ₹1,00,000. For the purchase of equipment costing more than one lakh and up to three lakhs, prior approval of DBT is required.
• Student training via the introduction of practicals, prescribed in the curriculum.
• Introduction of conceptual clarity via engaging students in minor projects, either singly or in groups of students not exceeding 4 in number.
• Inclusion of techniques for 'hands-on' training to strengthen concepts taught otherwise via theoretical approach.
• Summer training preferably via engaging students in research projects.
• Visits to neighboring industries, research institutions, or places of academic value.
• Use of IT in classroom, laboratory, and library activities.
• Organizing lectures by eminent scientists, and career counseling lectures specifically for creating awareness among students about their future career options in science.
• Any other relevant additional information.
• Faculty improvement program.
• Participation in summer courses for skill upgradation to be able to train students.
• Curriculum change to ensure more, 'hands-on' laboratory work.
• Greater emphasis on communicating research and research process to students.
• Introduce an internal review process by students regarding the implementation of various
• activities under the Star College Scheme.
• Feedback from students regarding the competence of faculty, adequacy of teaching/laboratory environment, and additional needs, if any.
• Increase in the number of practicals being conducted individually by the students.
• Introduction of “hands-on training” to enhance conceptual clarity for topics taught previously by theoretical approach.
• Engaging students in minor research projects.
• Faculty development programs and laboratory staff training programs.
• Involvement of students in scientific writing and journal club activities.
• Consolidated outcome after the sanctioned tenure (3 years)
• Increase in the admission cut-off percentage and decrease in the dropout rates of students.
• Increase in the faculty generated resources viz extramural research grants from other funding agencies to strengthen the Star College Scheme efforts.
• Number of colleges or schools mentored from underprivileged areas.
• Number of colleges mentored to write grants for Star Scheme support and their outcome.
• SOPs developed, lab manuals created and uploaded on the website, or submitted to DBT.

What to prepare

Documents required

The certificate that decides everything is the 2(f) and 12(B) certificate, and it has to be in the name of the college itself. A college applying under the rural category must attach a rural-area certificate from a competent authority, meaning the local administration and not the principal, in Hindi or English; without it the application is not taken further (DBT call for proposals). Not-for-profit and Government-aided colleges add a DARPAN ID.

The proposal has to arrive as one consolidated document covering every participating department. Department-wise separate copies are not accepted, curriculum and syllabus go only with the soft copy so the paper file stays thin, and applications that are incomplete or not prepared as instructed are not entertained (instructions for filling the proforma, DBT).

Step by step

How to apply

Everything starts with a registration on DBT's dedicated Star College portal. The college registers, receives an email address and password, and logs in to build the proposal (how to submit a proposal, DBT).

The form then runs in a fixed order, and each tab has to be complete before the next appears. College details come first, with the supporting PDFs; the Next button stays hidden until every one of them is uploaded. Then the programme coordinator's details, then the principal's, and only then does the college choose which stage it is applying under. After that come department details, laboratory details with the total expenditure entered once, library, faculty, students, technical details, budget, and the declaration, before the college either edits the proposal or clicks Final Submit.

Paper still follows the portal. A single duly signed and stamped hardcopy of the submitted proposal goes to Dr. Garima Gupta, Scientist F, Department of Biotechnology, Block-3, 5th Floor, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003 (DBT call for proposals).

One address detail trips colleges up. The myScheme record still points applicants at DBT's general eProMIS login, the 2025 advertisement names the submission portal as star.dbtindia.gov.in and the guidelines issued with the 2022 call describe the route as eProMIS. All three are older addresses: dbtindia.gov.in no longer resolves, and the programme is served today from star.dbt.gov.in.

Tracking a Star College Proposal on the Portal

The dashboard is where a college sees its own file, not where it learns a verdict: the last step of DBT's own submission guide simply routes the college back through Dashboard and then College Details to look at what it filed (how to submit a proposal, DBT). The result travels separately. DBT states that the decision of the Expert Committee or the Task Force is generally communicated to all applicants by email, along with the committee's observations, so the inbox of the registered coordinator is the channel that matters. For anything the portal itself is doing wrong, the address published on the stage pages is epromis.dbt@nic.in.

How winners are picked

Selection process

Proposals reach DBT through the advertisement on its website, through direct correspondence with colleges it has identified, and through nominations by vice chancellors, in a specified format. Regional requirements, women's colleges, autonomous colleges and colleges from aspirational districts are given consideration at this stage.

Screening comes first, by an expert committee. Shortlisted colleges are then called to present before the Task Force, a site visit is undertaken where the Task Force wants one, and the Task Force's decision is final (how a new proposal is processed, DBT). Committee members must declare a conflict of interest where they or close professional associates might benefit from a proposal; the conflict is rated high, medium or low, and the member is either asked to leave the room for that proposal or to stay out of the discussion and the decision.

Grades from the annual review then decide a college's future in the programme. Good (A) is the bar for moving to Star Status or to Star Mentor College, relaxed to Satisfactory (B+) for rural colleges, and Stage-II is judged on qualitative improvement over the funded years, on how students performed, and on the college's stated vision.

Fine print

Terms & conditions

Governance of a running grant is heavier than the application. Each grantee college constitutes an advisory committee with the principal as chairman, two DBT representatives, two external experts, faculty members from every participating department, and the coordinator as member-secretary. The committee meets at least once a year, preferably before the academic session starts, and at least one meeting evaluates progress on site (terms and conditions, DBT).

The coordinator is treated as a fixed point. A change of coordinator is not entertained for the whole duration of the support unless a personal issue keeps that person unavailable for more than six months at a stretch, which is why colleges are told to pick an active faculty member rather than a senior one who may move.

Reporting is annual and specific. The college files a utilization certificate and expenditure statement signed by the coordinator, the financial authority and the head of the institution at the end of each financial year, plus a technical progress report on DBT's proforma with the equipment list showing item, date of purchase and cost at purchase, and it presents that progress to the expert committee once a year. Recurring grants are to be spent within the same financial year, an unspent balance carries forward only with DBT's prior approval, and the department may send a site visit committee for on-the-spot evaluation whenever it chooses.

Get help

Contact

The programme is run from DBT's HRD and Infrastructure division in New Delhi. Dr. Garima Gupta, Scientist F, is listed as Programme Head at Room No. 510, 5th Floor, Block 3, CGO Complex, New Delhi 110003, on 011-24369385 and at garima.g@nic.in, and problems with the portal itself go to epromis.dbt@nic.in (Star College portal, DBT). The designations move: the myScheme record still shows her as a Scientist E programme officer under a separate adviser, so treat the portal listing as the current one.

Source

Official links

Frequently asked questions

From the official scheme FAQ (myScheme)

Read this

Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Scheme details are compiled from myScheme, the Government of India’s official scheme-discovery platform, and are reproduced without alteration. Amounts, deadlines and eligibility change between cycles, so always confirm on the official links above before applying. Expertie does not process applications or charge fees.

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References

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