The University Grants Commission (UGC), after inspection of private universities seeking its recognition, has recommended that the Amity University in Noida, Uttar Pradesh stop running professional courses on distance mode and the Martin Luther Christian University (MLUC) in Meghalaya shut down all off-campus centres. The UGC had set up committees to inspect the functioning of eight universities as part of the process to include them in the list of recognised universities.
The UGC rapped Amity for running several professional courses on distance mode and other ‘fancy’ but unapproved courses against UGC rules, running off-campus centres against laws, using the ‘AMITY’ brand name too liberally and with all its related institutions, for not following established university provisions on constrictions of varsity authorities and faculty and for running several professional courses on distance mode against UGC rules.
The UGC inspection committee headed by former Goa University V-C Prof B S Sonde pointed out that though Amity runs a number of technical education programmes “the norms and standards of AICTE have not been strictly followed by it, as is evident by the very high intake capacity of students in branches like MBA (about 800 students), and B.Tech. (about 500 students)”.
The committee has called for more transparency in the interest of students saying “the university needs to have an open and transparent operation in all its programmes and activities like student admission, fixing fees, faculty recruitment etc so that it gains the confidence, respect and admiration of the society at large”.
It said MLUC was “not yet ready to receive recognition from the UGC, as there are many deficiencies observed in the development of the University in respect of the criteria outlined in the UGC”. The university has been asked to restrict itself to the Shillong centre and wait another two years before seeking UGC recognition.
The UGC appointed committees also inspected the Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University and Kadi Sarva Visvavidyalaya in Gandhinagar, Ganpat University in Mehsana, Gujarat, Jagan Nath University, Jaipur, The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University, Mizoram and Eastern Institute for Integrated Learning in Management University, Jorethang, Sikkim.
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