Degree of duplicity

Universities that admit students outside their territorial jurisdiction are facing criminal action from the UGC, but more than the institutions, it’s the students who suffer, as their degrees and diplomas are considered invalid.

Last month, the higher education regulator University Grants Commission (UGC), on instructions from the central government’s Human Resources Development (HRD) ministry, directed the police to file a First Information Report (FIR) against top university officials who defied the UGC’s earlier orders and continued to admit students from outside their territory. 

Violation of territorial jurisdiction results in the certificates, diplomas and degrees awarded to students becoming invalid. The stringent directive came after most of the varsities failed to pay heed to the earlier UGC directives and admitted students in violation of the guidelines given to them. 

Twenty-five-old Hariharan, a student of an institute in Chennai which was attached to Bharathiar University in Coimbatore, is now forced to work as a cab driver after the catering diploma he enrolled for has turned out to be completely useless. “I completed the course a year ago, but later found out that it was a diploma certificate for a correspondence course. When I went with the certificate and applied for a job in a hotel, the HR said they did not recognise the institute. I thought it was a regular diploma and I even paid even the fee for a regular diploma,” said a distraught Hariharan, adding that the institute did not clearly state that it was for a correspondence course. 

He is among thousands of youngsters who have fallen prey to dubious ads of varsities which promised them degrees which ultimately had no value, as they resided outside the authorised territory of the university in which they studied. 

Another victim, Ajay Paul did his MBA (HR) from a study centre in New Delhi attached to Annamalai university. He had recently discontinued the course after he learnt that it would be invalid. “I did not complete my degree as I realised that even if I did, it would have no value,” says Ajay who is now employed in New Delhi. 

Institutions of higher education, which are expected to educate the next generation, are instead throwing all norms to the winds to make a quick buck by admitting students from practically anywhere for correspondence course from beyond their territories earmarked for them. 

As per the UGC guidelines, each university has a specific area beyond which it cannot admit students to correspondence courses. Though the UGC wrote five letters on this score earlier, they went unheeded, resulting in the UGC adopting a tough attitude and threatening that police cases would be filed against vice chancellors, deans and registrars if they did not fall in line. 

This demarche applied to two Tamil Nadu universities, the Salem-based Periyar University and the Tamil Nadu Open University. UGC sources said that this measure was adopted in order “to safeguard the interests of thousands of gullible students who have been cheated by such universities and institutions.” 

Periyar University, formed in 1997, was meant to cater to students in the Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts but when it admitted students from places other than the above, it was pulled up.

Distance Education Director Dr. Balagurunathan told DTNext that following the UGC directive, 120 centres were shut down and the university now caters to students attached to 188 centres. When asked whether money would be refunded to students by centres that have shut down, he said, “New students would not be admitted while those in their second and third years would be allowed to finish. Their degrees would be valid as the court has given students time to complete their degrees.” “We have been allowed by the court to admit students from anywhere within Tamil Nadu now,” he averred. 

Explaining further, he said, “We have UGC recognition till 2015 for our correspondence courses and our recourse to court has given us an additional two years. Therefore, correspondence course students who finish by 2017 in extra territorial areas will still have valid degrees.” 

Similarly, the Tamil Nadu Open University had also downed shutters on three study centres including those in Ethiopia and Mumbai. A top university official said, “Students admitted to these centres were refunded their money and those who were unwilling to discontinue were relocated to centres within the university’s jurisdiction.”