On Wednesday, the University Grants Commission (UGC) sent a final letter to 29 universities. The letter stated by 4 P.M. on November 30th, the institutes must stop using ‘University’ as part of its name and communicate the same to the UGC.
The UGC stated if the universities failed to make the change, they would lose the “deemed to be university” tag.
The final letter is a follow up of the Supreme Court order on November 3rd. The Court ordered the deemed to be universities to remove the suffix. Even though the universities lacked the university status they added the suffix university.
On the 10th of November, the Supreme Court directed a total of 123 deemed to be universities to drop ‘University’ from their names.
The UGC has asked 7 universities to submit proposals suggesting a new name. Christ University, Jain University, Lingaya’s University, Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Yenepoya University, SYMBIOSIS International University and Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya are the 7 Universities.
The UGC notice further said, “Failure to comply with these directions would amount to violation of the UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2016 and necessary action would be initiated against the Institution Deemed to be University in accordance with Clause 22.0 of these Regulations which may include recommending withdrawal of the declaration notifying the institution as an Institution Deemed to be University to the Central Government.”
The representatives of these institutions feared the order will affect their brand and lead to confusion among students and parents. The confusion is whether they are autonomous, affiliated institutions or degree awarding institutions.
