Vibha Sharma
New Delhi, September 11
Ahead of college admissions, UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar has warned students against “fake” universities — institutions not established as per the UGC Act but which offer degrees in contravention of the provisions — operating in the country.
In August, the UGC had issued a list of 21 “fake” institutions not empowered to confer any degree, a majority of these in Delhi followed by UP. However, many of these have been functioning despite not being recognised by the UGC as shown in the list published in 2020.
On how “fake” universities continue to operate despite being regularly marked by the UGC, Kumar said “some names continue to exist despite repeatedly writing to the respective state governments to take action”.
“Every year, some names of universities are dropped because they cease to exist after the UGC warning, but some continue to exist and new names are also added.
“We keep writing to the respective state governments until suitable action is taken and we continue to warn students not to take admission to such universities,” he said. At present, 21 “fake” universities/Institutions exist on the list available on the UGC website.