UGC Releases List of Fake Universities; Two from Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Universities Grants Commission has released the fresh list of fake universities in the country that are functioning without any official permission. The list includes 23 universities including two from Odisha. The UGC has warned students and general public to be careful and not take admissions in these institutions.

A release from the UGC Secretary Rajnish Jain read “Students and public at large are hereby informed that at present following 23 self-styled, unrecognized institutions are functioning in various parts of the country in contravention of the UGC Act,”.

While Uttar Pradesh has topped the list having the most number of fake universities(8), Delhi followed with seven. West Bengal and Odisha have both two fake universities each while Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Puducherry have one fake university each.

The UGC list includes Varanaseya Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya (Varanasi), Mahila Gram Vidyapith/Vishwavidyalaya (Prayagraj), Gandhi Hindi Vidyapith (Prayagraj), National University of Electro Complex Homeopathy (Kanpur), Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose University (Achaltal), Uttar Pradesh Vishwavidyalaya (Mathura), Maharana Partap Shiksha Niketan Vishwavidyalaya (Pratapgarh) and Indraprastha Shiksha Parishad (Noida).

In Delhi seven fake universities functioned namely Commercial University Ltd, Daryaganj, United Nations University, Vocational University, ADR-Centric Juridical University, Indian Institution of Science and Engineering, Viswakarma Open University for Self-employment and Adhyatmik Vishwavidyalaya.
The list of fake universities includes two from Odisha namely the Nababharat Shiksha Parishad (Rourkela) and North Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology (Mayurbhanj). Others in the list include Indian Institute of Alternative Medicine (Kolkata) and Institute of Alternative Medicine and Research (Kolkata), Sree Bodhi Academy of Higher Education (Puducherry), Badaganvi Sarkar World Open University Education Society (Karnataka), St. John’s University, (Kerala), and the Raja Arabic University (Maharashtra). The case pertaining to Bhartiya Shiksha Parishad, Lucknow is sub-judice before the district judge, the UGC said.