List of deemed varsities
facing action
NEW DELHI : The following are the universities which are to be stripped of their deemed status: Vignan’s Foundation for Science, Technology and Research, Guntur; Andhra Pradesh; Lingaya’s University, Faridabad; St Peter’s Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai; Noorul Islam Centre for Higher Education, Kanyakumari; Jaypee Institute of Information
Technology, Noida.

Shobhit Institute of Engineering and Technology, Meerut; Sumandeep Vidyapeet, Vadodara, Gujarat; Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, Satara, Maharashtra; D Y Patil Medical College, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research, Chennai.

Chettinad Academy of Research and Education, Kanchipuram; HIHT University, Dehradun; Santosh University, Ghaziabad; Maharshi
Markandeshwar University, Ambala, Haryana; Manav Rachna International University, Faridabad; Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune; Siksha “O” Anusandha, Bhubaneswar; Janardan Rai Nagar, Udaipur, Rajasthan; Institute of Advanced Studies in Education of Gandhi Vidya Mandir, Sardarshahr, Rajasthan; Mody Institute of Technology, Sikar, Rajasthan; Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute, Chennai; Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai; Kalasalingam Academy of Research
and Education, Virdhunagar, Tamil Nadu.

Periryar Maniammai Institute of Science and Technology, Thanjavur; Academy of Maritime Education and Training, Chennai; Vel’s Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies, Chennai; Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore; Vel Tech Rangaraja, Dr Sagunthal R&D Institute of Science, Chennai; Gurukul Kangri, Haridwar; Graphic Era University, Dehradun; Nehru Gram Bharati vishwavidyalaya, Allahabad; Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Puducherry; Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation, Salem, Tamil Nadu; Bharath Institute of Higher Education & Research, Chennai; Ponnaiya Ramajayam Institute of Science and Technology, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu; Nava Nalanda Mahavira, Nalanda, Bihar; Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development,Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu and National Museum, Institute of the History of Art Conservation and Musi cology, Janpath, New Delhi.
 

NEW DELHI  : Education Promotion Society for India (EPSI), a newly formed organisation of north Indian education magnates has decided to espouse the cause of 44 deemed universities which have been condemned by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Suspecting the MHRD move, the EPSI called for transparency in the government move and said that the 44 deemed varsities were willing to accept the government’s decisions only if they are shown the rationale behind them.

Led by Ms Sushma Berlia, daughter of Stya Paul, Founder President of the Apeejay Education Society EPSI held its meeting in Chennai as Tamil Nadu tops the numbers of condemned deemed universities in the country -- 16 out of 44. 

Defending the cause of deemed universities, Dr G. Viswanathan, Chancellor of VIT deemed university said that the expert committee constituted by the MHRD had called for wide-ranging actions against certain deemed universities after classifying them according to some scale. While some deemed universities really did have deficiencies, it was unfair to use a broad brush against all deemed universities, especially without providing the details of the committee’s evaluation process, he said. If the government was intent on reforming the system, it should start by showing more transparency in its own working, he added.

He questioned the parameters used by the committee and said it took at least a few years before a university could produce sufficient research output. He said a committee constituted by the University Grants Commission (UGC) had provided detailed reports after making site visits and after evaluating the universities over many days unlike the expert committee constituted by the MHRD.

He said there had been no transparency in the government and asked what action had been taken against erring university owners and chancellors in Chhattisgarh after the 2005 case when 112 private universities were derecognised.

EPSI would represent its case to Kapil Sibal, the Prime Minister and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

The meeting of 21 universities, affiliated to the EPSI was also addressed by Dr S.K. Khanna, former chief of AICTE and now doing consultancy for private education institutes and Mr P.K. Gupta, owner of a north Indian deemed university.

Tremors in Higher Education

After a gap of five years country's Higher Education sector experienced  another set of tremors on January 18 -- like the ones experienced after the Chattisgarh universities case judgement in which 112 private universities were scrapped by the Supreme Court in one go.

The new tremors were caused by Human Resource Development Ministry's decision to banish 44 deemed universities (listed below) owned by powerful politicians and influential businessmen in the country.

On January 18 the MHRD under, Mr Kapil Sibal, in a virtual rebuff to his predecessor, Mr Arjun Singh's policy of conferring "deemed university" status to 126 institutions, submitted in the Supreme Court that only 36 institutions were fully qualified to be upgraded while 44 "deemed universities" have "abysmal" infrastructure facilities and that their deemed university status needs to be withdrawn.

In its affidavit filed in the Supreme Court in Viplav Sharma vs Union of India case, the government submitted the  P N Tandon committee report, which lists 44 erring institutions for de-recognition. Of these, the highest 16 are in Tamil Nadu, followed by 6 in Karnataka, 4 in Uttar Pradesh, 3 each in Haryana and Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, and one each in Gujarat, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry and New Delhi.

Of the deficient institutions, 41 are privately managed, and three are government funded, including Nava Nalanda Mahavihara in Nalanda, Bihar; Rajiv Gandhi National Youth Development Institute, Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu; and National Institute of the History of Art, Conservation and Museology, New Delhi.

The de-recognition move, if it comes through following the SC intervention, would affect the futures of over 2 lakh students, with 2,03,322 currently pursuing courses with the erring institutions. Accordingly, the task force constituted to implement the committee recommendations has said that the erring universities could seek affiliation to the state university of their jurisdiction to enable students to complete courses. “Existing colleges not found suitable to continue should revert to their status as affiliated college of the state university of jurisdiction to enable the students to finish courses and obtain degrees,” the task force said.

It has further advised the government to make every effort to facilitate migration or re-enrolment of the students to equivalent courses in other institutions in case their own institution, after losing its deemed tag, is unable to attain affiliation of the state university concerned.

The government counsel told Justices Dalveer Bhandari and A.K. Patnaik that while approving deemed university status to only 36 institutions, 44 others had been put on "watch list" for three years to see whether they improve their standard, infrastructure and teaching facilities.

The universities run by some of the top guns in Tamil Nadu, such as Union minister S. Jagathrakshakan, AIADMK Lok Sabha member M. Thambidurai and the Dravida Kazhagam leader K. Veeramani have been recommended for withdrawal of the "deemed university" status by the ministry, as the state earned the dubious distinction of earning the "highest score" of 16 of its
varsities in the national `black-list' of 44.

The 44 institutions which will lose their deemed varsity status have violated the guidelines prescribing excellence in teaching and research or innovations, and introduced unrelated degree programmes beyond the mandate of the grant of the status, the MHRD council told the court.

In the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the MHRD said that the Prof. P N Tandon Committee found that with the notable exception of some publicly funded institutions, none of them could produce evidence of quality research, going by publications in leading journals.

Many institutions, which attained the deemed university status from being colleges, increased their intake disproportionately and, in some cases, exponentially in relation to the qualified faculty strength and academic infrastructure. Several institutions prescribed fees considerably higher than that recommended by official committees.

The decision on according affiliation to and registering students enrolled in the 44 institutions with the relevant State university for the purpose of award of degrees would be taken up in consultation with the State governments.

Regarding foreign institutions, the affidavit said: “The Centre is in the process of finalising a legislative proposal for regulating the entry and operations of foreign education providers and the same has to be introduced in Parliament after obtaining necessary approval within the government.”

The Centre was awaiting the final report of the Task Force on the draft regulations submitted by the University Grants Commission for declaring institutions deemed universities. The guidelines, after consideration by the Centre, would be conveyed to the UGC for being notified, the affidavit said.