Edu-leaders

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has received applications from 13 institutes for deemed university status, said a UGC source.

The source clarified that the UGC is processing these applications as per the University Grants Commission (Institutes Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2010.

The Commission has set up expert panels to inspect these 13 campuses and suggest whether they deserve the deemed university tag. Stricter criteria will be used to assess applications this year.

Three of the new applications have come from Uttar Pradesh, another three from Tamil Nadu, two each from Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, and one each from Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab.

The 13 institutes include Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology, Hyderabad; National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad; Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering, Kanchipuram; Indian Institute of Information Technology Design and Manufacturing, Kanchipuram; PGP University, Namakkal; National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (Niftem), Sonepat; Prestige Institute of Management and Research, Indore; MAERR MIT World Peace University, Pune; National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai; Surya Institute of Genomics and Biotechnological Research, Chandigarh; Raffles Millennium University, Greater Noida; Isabella Thoburn University, Lucknow and Dr Maggu’s GSBA University, Greater Noida.

The UGC has started processing fresh applications for deemed university status despite a pending case regarding the cancellation of deemed status of 44 deemed universities.

A huge controversy has been raging for the past few years over granting deemed status to dozens of institutions that a review committee had condemned as undeserving. The HRD Ministry set up the review committee in 2009 after a petitioner, Viplav Sharma, had approached the Supreme Court pointing to the proliferation of deemed universities in recent years and questioning their standards. Out of all the 130 existing deemed universities, the review committee found 44 to be “unworthy” and recommended the status be withdrawn from them. It found another 44 deficient in quality and suggested they be given three years to correct their shortcomings.