Inspections conducted by the University Grants Commission (UGC) into the functioning of private universities have found a number of irregularities, including running non-approved courses by some of them, like Amity University.
None of the innovative professional and technical courses offered by Amity University has got approval of relevant statutory bodies, a UGC committee has found.
The UGC had set up separate committees to inspect the functioning of eight universities as part of the process to include them in the list of recognised universities being maintained by it.
The committees were critical of the functioning of two universities — Amity University in Uttar Pradesh and Martin Luther Christian University (MLUC) in Meghalaya. The committee, led by Prof B S Sonde, visited the Amity University in July this year. In its report, the committee said, “The University is offering a range of innovative professional and technical programmes in emerging areas. None of the programmes has received the approval of relevant professional councils”.
The Bar Council of India’s approval is for the school of law and it was obtained before the university was born, it said. The approval needs to be revalidated by the university now, it said.
Giving details, the committee has said the university, set up by an Uttar Pradesh Act, is operating at Lucknow and Noida. It conducts a number of distance learning courses in professional subjects like MBA and MCA.
“As per UGC regulations, they are not authorised to do so. Further, they have not obtained the approval of the UGC-AICTE-DEC joint committee for running these programmes,” it said.
The University conducts many programmes and awards many degrees to attract a large number of students in “fancy courses”. “This is not desirable, as the curriculum is too broad and lacks depth,” the committee found.
The committee also said the university requires a “vibrant quality assurance activity”. There is an urgent need for getting its programmes accredited by the National Accreditation and Assessment Authority or National Board of Accreditation.
It found the university does not follow reservation policy in recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff and admission of students. This violates the University Act and the UGC Regulations 2003.
A separate committee has given an adverse report against Martin Luther Christian University (MLCU), which has opened many off-campuses.
“MLCU may be asked to close down its off-campus centres with immediate effect. MLUC is not yet ready to receive recognition, as there are deficiencies,” the report said.
The committees inspected the Eastern Institute For Integrated Learning In Management, Sikkim; The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University, Mizoram; Jagan Nath University, Jaipur, Sarva Vidyalaya Kelvani Mandal Gandhinagar Gujarat, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gujarat; Amity University, MLUC, Shillong and Ganpat University, Gujarat.
