Doomed: 44 deemed universities to be closed

vIndianz.com (19 Jan, 2010) — The government through, the Ministry of Human Resources and Development, in an affidavit to the Supreme Court has stated that 44 deemed-to-be universities across India will be closed soon.

doomed_universities At least 1,19,363 students at the under-graduate and post-graduate levels; another 2,124 pursuing research in M.Phil and Ph.D programmes and an estimated 74,808 pursue distance education programmes will be directly affected by the decision,

The government was forced to take this decision after it was recommeded by a review committee of experts led by Professor P. N. Tandon, formerly of the AIIMS and an ex-president of the Indian National Science Academy. The main objective of the main Tandon committee, which was created in June 2009, was to review functioning of the existing deemed to be universities, and ensure that standards of higher education and research are maintained by such institutions as to justify their continuance as deemed to be universities”.

The committee invited all 130 deemed-to-be universities for “face-to-face discussions” during August-September 2009.

According to 11-page affdavit filed to the SC through HRD ministry’s representative Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, of the 130 invited, 126 attended the sessions and it divided the status of 126 institutes into three categories.

The work of the last category of 44 institutes was termed “neither on past performance nor on their promise for the future have they attributed to retain their status as deemed to be universities”, according to an Indian Express report.

The committee said 38 institutes justify with their achievements, performance and potential to continue as deemed universities while 44 were found to be “deficient in some aspects which need to be rectified over a three-year period suggested by the committee”. Another 44 were recommended for derecognition.

Tamil Nadu tops this list with 16, including one sponsored by the government. Karnataka follows with six and Uttar Pradesh is at No. 3 with four. Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan have three each while Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Orissa, Puducherry, Bihar and Delhi have one each which will be closed.

Three government-sponsored institutes recommended for closure are the Nava Nalanda Mahavira in Bihar which has 525 students including 35 Ph.D scholars, Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu with 61 post-graduate students and the one at Janpath, New Delhi.

Aberrations found in the functioning of the 44 institutes are “undesirable management architecture” of families rather than professionals running them; violation of principles and guidelines of excellence in teaching and research or innovations and “engaged in thoughtless introduction of unrelated programmes and proliferation of degrees”; very little evidence of noticeable efforts in regard to emerging areas of knowledge; “little evidence of commitment” towards research or ability to draw institutional or principal investigator-based research funding on competitive terms, UG and PG level programmes “fragmented” with “concocted nomenclatures”, abuse of freedom and flexibility in matters of admission and fee structure.

“Many institutions which attained deemed university status from being a college increased their intake capacity disproportionately and in some cases exponentially in relation to the qualified faculty strength and other academic infrastructure,” the affidavit stated.

A Task Force is preparing a plan to “safeguard” interests of students enrolled in the institutes, the affidavit stated.

The below-par institutions will be required to revert to their status as an “affiliated college” of the statutory state university or state medical or dental universities concerned so that students would be able to complete ongoing courses and obtain degrees from the affiliating universities, the affidavit stated.

The matter comes up for further hearing on January 25.

The ‘doomed’ university list

The deemed-to-be-universities off government list

Tamil Nadu

St Peter’s Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai

Noorul Islam Centre for Higher Education, Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu

Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research, Chennai

Chettinad Academy of Research and Education, Padur

Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education, Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu

Periyar Maniammai Institute of Science and Technology, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu

Academy of Maritime Education and Training, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Vel’s Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced studies (VISTAS), Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Karpagam Academy of Higher Educatioin, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu

Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr Sagunthala R&D Institute of Science & Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation, Salem, Tamil Nadu

Bharath Institute of Higher Education & Research, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Institute of Science and Technology, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu

Karnataka

Christ College, Bangalore

Sri Devraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research, Kolar

Yenepoya University, Mangalore

BLDE University, Bijapur

Sri Siddhartha Academy of Higher education, Tumkur

Jain University, Bangalore

Haryana

Lingaya’s University, Faridabad

Maharishi Matkandeshwar University, Ambala

Manav Rachna International University, Faridabad

Uttar Pradesh

Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida

Shobit Institute of Engineering and Technology, Meerut

Santosh University, Ghaziabad

Nehru Gram Bharati Vishwavidyalaya, Allahabad

Maharashta

Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, Satara

D.Y. Patil Medical College, Kolhapur

Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune

Rajasthan

Janardhan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Udaipur

Institute of Advanced Studies in Education of Gandhi Vidya Mandir, Sardarshahr

Mody Institute of Technology and Science, Sikar

Uttarakhand

HIHT University, Dehradun

Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Hardwar

Graphic Era University, Dehradun

From other states

Vignan’s Foundation for Science Technology and Research, Guntur

Siksha Anusandhan, Bhubaneswar, Orissa

Sumandeep Vidyapeeth, Vadodara, Gujarat

* Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Puducherry

Other deemed universities sponsored by the government

Nava Nalanda, Nalanda, Bihar
Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Sriperumbudur, Tamilnadu
National Museum Institute of the History of Art, Conservation and Museology, Delhi

Further Reading

Stay updated! Follow us on twitter and subscribe to our feed via Feedburner.

4 Comments

At 2010.02.22 19:03, dr ashis said:

I read about the deemed to be doomed.Some times i think that its right,some times think wrong.not reached in a certain decission.Any way the education system shoud be quality education system and the Engineers comes to be 100% perfect , not fake. Day to day i guess the real engineers are not comes to the front.

[Reply]
At 2010.03.17 18:24, sneha said:

i would like to know whether these universities will be closed or they will continue as colleges affiliated to state university.

[Reply]
At 2010.05.31 08:31, sam said:

wat will happen to the deemed to be universities?
wat is the status of karunya university??
wat is NAAC “A” means??

[Reply]
At 2010.12.07 00:26, udayabasker said:

All admissions made in a deemed university supervised by government bodies. The government should conduct surprise raids so that the education system is well protected.

[Reply]