UGC cautions universities against award of degrees violating norms

New Delhi, July 15: UGC has again cautioned universities against award of degrees in violation of provisions in the backdrop of the recent controversy surrounding the four-year undergraduate programme of Delhi University.

Referring to section 22 of the UGC Act, it asked the universities to grant degrees only within its framework, making it clear that it should be informed six months in advance if a varsity wishes to award degrees other than the one specified by UGC.

In notices to all the vice chancellors, it said that "no university shall confer a degree in violation to provisions. It shall be mandatory for universities to adhere to the approved nomenclature of degrees and ensure the observance of minimum standards of instructions before the award of degrees".

Earlier, UGC had asked the varsities to stick to the rules, observing that some universities/institutes are awarding "unspecified" degrees leading to litigation and different problems for the students conferred with such degrees.

Delhi University had last month scrapped the controversial four-year programme under pressure from UGC replacing it with the three-year programme followed by it earlier.

However, a couple of private universities are believed to be under the UGC radar for offering programmes other than three-year courses and are not approved nomenclatures.

In the days following the FYUP controversy, UGC had come out with notification, saying many universities and colleges were using unconventional nomenclatures for degrees.

For example, the Bachelor of Commercial Law (BCL) degree is not among those specified (recognised) by it, so its name should be changed to LL.B (Commercial Law), it had said.

PTI