Virtual Shiksha

Central Government of India said to the countries Supreme Court on 18th Jan 2010 that it is going to de-recognise as many as 44 deemed universities accross the country. Following is a list of all the universities slated to loose their status:

* Christ College, Bangalore
* Vignan's Foundation for Science, Technology and Research, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh
* Lingaya's University, Faridabad
* St Peter's Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai
* Noorul Islam Centre for Higher Education, Kanyakumari
* Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida
* Shobhit Institute of Engineering and Technology, Meerut
* Sumandeep Vidyapeet, Vadodara, Gujarat
* Sri Devraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Reserch, Kolar, Karnataka
* Yenepoya University, Mangalore
* BLDE University, Bijapur, Karnataka
* Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, Satara, Maharashtra
* D Y Patil Medical College, Kolhapur, Maharashtra
* Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research, Chennai
* Chettinad Academy of Research and Education, Kanchipuram
* HIHT University, Dehradun
* Santosh University, Ghaziabad
* Maharshi Markandeshwar University, Ambala, Haryana
* Manav Rachna International University, Faridabad
* Sri Siddhartha Academy of Higher Education, Tumkur, Karnataka
* Jain University, Bangalore
* Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune
* Siksha "O" Anusandha, Bhubaneswar
* Janardan Rai Nagar, Udaipur, Rajasthan
* Institute of Advanced Studies in Education of Gandhi Vidya Mandir, Sardarshahr, Rajasthan
* Mody Institute of Technology, Sikar, Rajasthan
* Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute, Chennai
* Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai
* Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education, Virdhunagar, Tamil Nadu
* Periryar Maniammai Institute of Science and Technology, Thanjavur
* Academy of Maritime Education and Training, Chennai
* Vel's Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies, Chennai
* Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore
* Vel Tech Rangaraja Dr Sagunthal R&D Institute of Science, Chennai
* Gurukul Kangri, Haridwar
* Grapich Era University, Dehradun
* Nehru Gram Bharati Vishwavidyalaya, Allahabad
* Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Puducherry
* Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation, Salem, Tamil Nadu
* Bharath Institute of Higher Education And Research, Chennai
* Ponnaiya Ramajayam Institute of Science and Technology, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
* Nava Nalanda Mahavira, Nalanda, Bihar
* Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu
* National Museum, Institute of the History of Art Conservation and Musicology, Janpath, New Delhi

The affidavit filed by Ministry of Human Resource and Development said the government has accepted the recommendations made in this regard by the high-powered P N Tandon committee and the Special Task Force set up to suggest measures to tackle the problem.

The HRD ministry's review committee found following glaring omissions in case of 44 deemed universities:

* Undesirable management structure where families rather than professional academics controlled the functioning
* Several institutions had violated the principles and guidelines prescribing excellence in teaching and research and were engaged in introduction of thoughtless programmes
* Little evidence of noticeable efforts in case of emerging areas of knowledge
* Little evidence of commitment towards research
* Institutions increased their intake capacity disproportionately
* Undergraduate and post-graduate courses were fragmented with concocted nomenclatures
* Higher fee structure than prescribed.

The high-powered committee and the task force had arrived at the findings after evaluating the functioning of 126 deemed universities in the countries. While 44 of them were found unfit to retain the deemed status, 44 others have been given directions to fill up the lacuna in their respective functioning to enable them retain the status. In the case of 38 others, the committee found them to be up to the mark.

This is an unprecidented action in the educational arena of India. But the base question remains that if these universities were not fulfilling the required criteria, then why were they given recognition in first place and will the responsibilities be fixed for playing with the future of lakhs of students?

This action also underlines the nexus working in the field of higher education through which these universities manage to get recognition even while not fulfilling the norms. The role of regulator ie. Universities Grants Commission (UGC).

The HRD ministry has emphasized that the affected students would be taken care of. The ministry's task force has recomended that institutions not found fit for deemed university status "revert to status quo ante as an affiliated college of the state university of jurisdiction so that students would be able to complete their ongoing courses and obtain degree from the affiliating university." Similarly, medical and dental colleges not found suitable can affiliate to state university or state medical university.

In case, the institution is unable to obtain affiliation, efforts would be made to facilitate the migration/re-enrolment of the affected students in other institutions. Doctoral students will have to re-register in affiliating universities and those in distance education should either go to IGNOU or state open universities. While these safeguards have been recommended, the students are nonetheless likely to go through a phase of uncertainty as they move from one university to another.

These 44 deemed universities have 1,19,363 students at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. In addition, there are 2,124 students pursuing research at MPhil and PhD levels and another estimated 74,808 students pursuing distance education programmes. As many as 41 of the 44 deemed universities have several constitutent institutions under them, which would further swell the number of affected students.