Tall claims spell trouble for 44 deemed varsities
PhDs in subjects they cannot spell, wine tasting as an “innovative” course — misleading and false claims form evidence the government is submitting to the Supreme Court to nail 44 deemed universities it wants to derecognise.
PhDs in subjects they cannot spell, wine tasting as an “innovative” course — misleading and false claims form evidence the government is submitting to the Supreme Court to nail 44 deemed universities it wants to derecognise.
Verbatim transcripts of interviews of the deemed universities by a human resource development ministry review panel, sought by the SC, also reveal that many institutions that have now challenged the government’s move in the SC had accepted their flaws.
The HRD ministry plans to submit the transcripts — accessed by HT — to the SC early next week. The apex court is scheduled to hear the case on September 28. The SC’s evaluation of this fresh evidence is likely to play a key role in the case that affects of students enrolled at these institutions and the future of the deemed university system.
The review panel consisting of four eminent academicians had to repeatedly ask Janardhan Rai Nagar deemed university in Rajasthan what “arthurology” mentioned in its documents meant, only to finally realise that the institution offers PhDs in archaeology.
Among the “innovative” programmes it is running, Bangalore’s Christ University listed wine studies. Other “innovative” programmes listed by institutions included Information Technology — a subject taught by almost every engineering college in the country. Karpagam deemed university did not know how many of its teachers hold PhDs.
Several deemed universities that have filed affidavits in the SC challenging the HRD ministry’s move to derecognise them had accepted they were wrong during the interaction with the panel. Vinayaka Mission University accepted it was running 175 distance education courses without requisite approval, while Ponnaih Ramanujam Institute of Science and Technology accepted that it was running programmes different from those for which it got the deemed tag. Rajasthan-based Institute of Advanced Studies in Education accepted it ran unrecognised distance education programmes between ’03 and ’07.
Sri Sidhartha and Dr. MGR deemed universities accepted families of the sponsor, controlled the institutions.