In order to reduce the risk of losing the ‘university’ status, most deemed universities institutes in Pune have agreed to comply with the directive to drop the university tag from their names. This was after the higher education regulator, University Grants Commission (UGC), issued two directives on Wednesday. A total of seven educational institutes from Pune had appeared in the list of 123 national ‘deemed’ universities and they had to convey their acceptance to drop the university tag by Thursday afternoon.
WHAT UGC WANTS
As per the order, a compliance report had to be emailed to the UGC by 4 pm. “Necessary action would be initiated against the institutions, which may include recommending withdrawal of the declaration,” the two letters from the UGC stated.
Among the first few to receive the two letters, Pune’s Symbiosis was one. The institutes named are indeed well established, and would only create problems for the students and the academic development of the students.
WHAT SC SAYS
The Wednesday directive was followed by the Supreme Court order of November 3, which asked UGC to curb deemed-to-be universities from using the word “university” in their titles.
CONFUSION PADS UP
Vasant Shinde, vice-chancellor, Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute, said, “We have always used deemed-to-be university under our official name. I do not understand why we were on the list. As for the directive, we have already written to the UGC stating that we are not at fault here, and hence, we should not be prosecuted.”
Bharati Vidyapeeth, Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute, Dr DY Patil Vidyapeeth, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Institute of Armament Technology , Symbiosis International University and Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth are the seven educational institutional institutes that were included in the list.
