UGC Spreads Awareness on 'Fake Degrees' offered by Private Institutes

The UGC (University Grants Commission) has hereby published a public notice regarding the FAKE Degrees which are being offered by the Private Institutions.

The Notice says; The Commission has come across many advertisements published in National Dailies offering opportunities for the award of university degrees through various franchise programmes conducted by certain private institutions.

The private establishments claiming themselves as study centres or learning centres of different universities enroll students for various degree programmes and also claim to be responsible for teaching and conduct of examinations.

The faculty and the infrastructure belong to these private agencies. The concerned university except providing syllabus and teaching materials has no mechanism to monitor and maintain the academic standards of teaching being imparted at these centres. This blatant compromise with the standards of education has led to widespread criticism. The Commission has taken a serious view of these misleading advertisements appearing in various newspapers.

It is therefore, clarified for the information of all concerned, including students and parents that:

1. A Central or State Government University can conduct courses through its own departments, it's constitutes colleges and /or through its affiliated colleges.

2. A University established or incorporated by or under a State act shall operate only within the territorial jurisdiction allotted to it under its Act and in no case beyond the territory of the state of its location.

3. The private universities and deemed universities cannot affiliate any college or institution for conducting courses leading to award of its diplomas, degrees or other qualifications.

4. No University, whether central, state, private or deemed, can offer its programmes through franchising arrangement with private coaching institutions even for the purpose of conducting courses through distance mode.

5. All universities shall award only such degrees as are specified by the UGC and published in the official gazette.

6. The Universities shall conduct their first degree and Master's degree programmes in accordance with the regulations notified by the Commission in this regard.

In this connection, the students and the general public are also hereby informed of the following regulating provisions pertaining to different types of universities as mentioned below:

1. UGC Regulations on Private Universities

• A private university established under a State Act shall be a unitary university. A private university may be permitted to open of campus centres, off shore campuses and study centres after five years of its coming into existence subject to the fulfillment of conditions as laid down under UGC regulations 2003.

• As of now, the UGC has not granted permission to any Private University to establish off-campus/ study centres.

2. UGC Regulations and Deemed Universities

• A Deemed University shall operate only with its Headquarters or from those off campuses/off-shore campuses which are approved by the Government of India through notification published in the official gazette. In case of distance education programmes, no institution deemed to be university, so declared by the Govt. of India after 26th May, 2010 is allowed to conduct courses in the distance mode.

• The institutions deemed to be universities declared before 26th May, 2010 are not allowed to conduct courses in distance mode from any of its off-campus centres/ off-shore campuses approved after 26th May, 2010.

• Approval for new courses and extension of approval of the courses already run by the Deemed to be Universities under distance mode would be granted by the UGC subject to the fulfillment of conditions as laid down by the UGC. The UGC has not granted approval to any deemed to be university to establish study centres.

Any information/clarification with regard to recognition of Private Universities/ Deemed Universities and the courses offered by them may be obtained from JS UGC, Bahadurshah Zafar Marg, New Delhi.

3. Distance Education Programmes of the Central Universities and State Govt. Universities.

• The Central/ State Govt. Universities can conduct courses through distance mode in accordance with the provisions of their respective Act and after the approval of the UGC.

• The information relating to recognized universities, list of specified degrees and all the relevant regulations/ instructions/ guidelines of the UGC are available on UGC Website (www.ugc.ac.in).

• The students are advised not to take admission in the unapproved Study Centres, Off Campus centres, Franchise Institutions, Colleges/ Institutions claiming to be affiliated with Private Universities or Deemed Universities.

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