UGC halts mushrooming, misleading ‘universities’

Following the supreme Court directive, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has put an end to often misused nomenclature ‘university’ by private educational institutes and asked them either to drop the word immediately.

In its directive dated Nov. 29, 2017, UGC secretary PK Thakur wrote to 29 such institutes asking them to respond by 4 pm on Thursday, Nov.30, 2017. Out of these 29, 22 institutes do not have ‘University’ tag in the name notified by the Government, while others have been asked to change the name soon.

Some of the misleading varsities in nomenclature include Symbiosis International University in Pune, Christ University in Bengaluru, Jain University, Maharishi Markandeshwar University and Lingaya’s University, which are given the status of deemed to be university status.

Thakur told them to immediately discontinue with the name of the Deemed to be University using the word ‘University’ and revert back to the name notified by the Government of India.

With this Christ University has to change its name to Christ institute while Manipal University should revert to its original registered name as Manipal Academy of Higher Education and TERI University as TERI School of Advanced Studies.

The Supreme Court on Nov. 3, asked the UGC to stop deemed-to-be universities from using the word “University” in their names. Accordingly, the UGC on Nov. 10 directed 123 Deemed-to-be-Universities to drop the word ‘University’ from their names, which is in violation of the Section 23 of the UGC Act.

Terming non-compliance of the orders very serious, the UGC said,”It has been decided to give a last chance to the Institution Deemed to be University to immediately discontinue with the name of the Deemed to be University using the word ‘University’ and submit an alternative proposal as requested vide above UGC letter. Failure to comply with these directions would amount to violation of the UGC (lnstitutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2016 and necessary action would be initiated against the Institution Deemed to be University in accordance with Clause 22.0 of these Regulations which may include recommending wathdrawal of the declaration notifying the institution as an Institution Deemed to be University to the Central Government.”