Pathways & certification
Who issues equivalence certificates in India now — UGC, AIU or NCERT?
It depends on the qualification. NCERT, through PARAKH, now handles Indian school boards; UGC handles foreign qualifications under its 2025 regulations. AIU still advertises the service it used to run, which is why families get contradictory answers.
Which body handles which qualification?
Equivalence used to be one desk. Between September 2025 and 2026 it became three, and no single page anywhere sets out the split — which is why parents, schools and even university admission offices are giving different answers to the same question.
| Your qualification | Body now responsible | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Indian school board, Class 10 or 12 | NCERT, through PARAKH | Ministry of Education gazette, 6 September 2025 |
| Foreign school qualification | UGC — school desk, equivalence@ugc.gov.in | UGC Equivalence Regulations, 2025 |
| Foreign degree | UGC — equivalence-cell@ugc.gov.in | UGC Equivalence Regulations, 2025 |
| Medicine, pharmacy, nursing, law, architecture | The relevant statutory council | Excluded from the UGC regulations |
Why AIU still appears to be the answer
Because AIU has not updated its public position. Checked on 15 August 2026, its equivalence page still describes the Association as "vested with the power of according academic equivalence" and still offers this:
Equivalence Certificate is issued for the students having completed their School Level Examinations from Foreign Boards.
That is the exact function the UGC regulations and the September 2025 gazette moved elsewhere. AIU held the school-certificate role under a notification dated 15 November 2021; the 2025 gazette reassigned it. Until AIU amends its own page, both descriptions stay live on the internet and both get quoted at families.
What this means if you are applying now
- Identify which lane you are in first — an Indian board is a PARAKH question, a foreign board is a UGC question. Applying to the wrong body wastes weeks.
- Do not rely on a school, agent or coaching centre citing AIU. Ask them which 2025 instrument they are relying on.
- Get any admission office's requirement in writing, naming the body it expects the certificate from.
- UGC states its standing committee decides applications within 10 days — if you are quoted months, ask what is actually being processed.
This is general information, not legal advice, and this particular area is moving. Confirm the current route with the receiving institution before you pay any fee — including ours, so to speak: verify this page against the primary sources listed below rather than treating it as settled.
- Does this change NIOS recognition?
- No. NIOS is an Indian board and its examining authority rests on a Government of India resolution of 14 September 1990. What changed is which body certifies equivalence between Indian boards — now NCERT through PARAKH — not whether NIOS is recognised.
- Does UGC grant equivalence at Class 10, or only Class 12?
- Class 10 too. UGC is granting equivalence for Class 10 IGCSE and families completed the process in 2026. The regulations enumerate the Class 12 route to undergraduate admission, but clause 3(6) lets the Commission set other conditions — and UGC staffs a separate school-education desk at equivalence@ugc.gov.in for exactly this kind of query.
- Do private and online-school candidates get equivalence?
- Yes. Private candidates, including online-school students, obtain UGC equivalence certificates, and Indian universities rely on that certificate for admission. The test is whether your school and its school-leaving examination are recognised by the relevant Board abroad — not whether you attended a conventional campus.
- Which body handles IGCSE or IB taken at a centre inside India?
- The awarding body is foreign, which points to UGC, and UGC is processing Cambridge school-level cases. What no public document settles is how PARAKH's remit over boards operating in India interacts with that. Confirm with the receiving institution in writing.