The UGC-Special Assistance Programme (SAP) scheme was initiated in 1963 by UGC keeping in view the recommendations of the Education Commission to facilitate the selected number of University Departments having some potential in research and teaching. The programme is intended to encourage the pursuit of excellence and teamwork in advanced teaching and research to accelerate the realization of international standards in specific fields. The first such programme was initially started as the "Centre of Advanced Study (CAS)" in 1963. The "Department of Special Assistance (DSA)" and "Departmental Research Support (DRS)" programmes were started in the Departments during 1972 and 1977 respectively to create feeder departments for CAS. The SAP Scheme is implemented at 3 levels : (i) Centre of Advanced Study (CAS), (ii) Department of Special Assistance (DSA), (iii) Departmental Research Support (DRS).