30/11/2017
PUNE: A total
of seven educational institutes from Pune had appeared in the list of 123
national ‘deemed’ universities and they had to convey their acceptance to
drop the university tag by Thursday afternoon.
In order to reduce the risk of losing the ‘university’
status, most educational institutes in Pune have agreed to comply with the
directive to drop the university tag from their names. This was after
the higher education regulator, University Grants Commission (UGC), issued
two directives on Wednesday. As per the order, a compliance report had to be emailed to the
UGC by 4 pm. “Necessary action would be initiated against the
institutions, which may include recommending withdrawal of the declaration,”
the two letters from the UGC stated.
Among the first few to receive the two letters, Pune’s
Symbiosis was one. Responding to the same, Dr Vidya Yeravdekar, principal
director of Symbiosis Society, Symbiosis International University (SIU) stating
the institution’s situation. “Currently, we really don’t have an option but
to comply. For now, we have to use the name Symbiosis International Deemed
University, and we are writing a proposal to UGC stating this. But this will be
without prejudice to the fact that if we file a writ petition, or there is stay
on this regulation, either due to our petition or for some other ongoing
petition in the court, then we would be allowed to revert to our name of
Symbiosis International University,” Dr Yeravdekar said.
“We had been using the term ‘university’ legally after being
declared so by the central government under Section 3 of the University Grants
Commission Act. And now this sudden change makes no sense. In my opinion, the
ministry should actually amend the UGC act. Pune being an education hub, with
seven universities having to drop this status, it is bound to create a lot of
problems,” she added.
She claimed that the directive holds no purpose as the
institutes named are indeed well established, and would only create problems
for the students and the academic development of the students. “For an
international university like ours, this move is bound to affect our
international collaborations, especially in terms of the students including
those on scholarships. The term ‘deemed’ which is just an adjective will
create confusion, and will also affect global rankings, by questioning our
contribution as a full-fledged university,” she addded.
Adding to the confusion, Vasant Shinde, vice-chancellor,
Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute, said, "We have
always used deemed-to-be university under our official name. I do not
understand why we were on the list. As for the directive, we have already
written to the UGC stating that we are not at fault here, and hence, we should
not be prosecuted.”
Bharati Vidyapeeth, Deccan College Post Graduate and Research
Institute, Dr DY Patil Vidyapeeth, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics,
Institute of Armament Technology, Symbiosis International University and Tilak
Maharashtra Vidyapeeth are the seven educational institutional institutes that
were included in the list.
The Wednesday directive was followed by the Supreme Court
order of November 3, which asked UGC to curb deemed-to-be universities
from using the word “university” in their titles.
In contrary, Bharati Vidyapeeth University announced to have resolved the issue. “Ours is the only institute in all those listed from Pune who have complied UGC’s directive well within the time. On November 22, we had communicated to UGC that Bharati Vidyapeeth is the name of the trust and that we already use deemed university in our title. Now, the only change made will be using ‘deemed to be’ instead, within a bracket in the second line, after ‘Bharati Vidyapeeth,” said Jaykumar G, registrar.
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