Saturday, November 8, 2014

UGC warns colleges against awarding fancy degrees

The University Grants Commission on Friday issued circulars to universities urging them to abide by its norms for awarding degrees. It pointed out that universities advertised in national dailies about degrees with nomenclature that the commission had not notified in the gazette.

The circular pointed out that candidates with such degrees faced litigation at a later stage and were denied certificates even after they cleared the National Eligibility Test. In July, the UGC issued a notification with details of the nomenclature of degrees that could be awarded.

In Tamil Nadu too, there are State-run universities awarding fancy degrees. For instance, a premier college in Coimbatore, affiliated to Bharathiar University, offers a three-year B. Com programme under the following nomenclatures: e-commerce; computer application; professional accounting; accounting and finance; retail marketing; business process and services; financial system; and foreign trade. Over 2,000 students pursue these programmes in the college.

The university withdrew its four-year B. Com degree after the UGC disbanded the programme following a protest by Delhi University students some months ago. “The State and deemed universities should not violate the UGC rules. Students faced problems when BA English Literature was offered as BA Language and Literature. This is a subversion of the UGC rules, and we have alerted the university [to this] time and again,” said C. Pichaandy, vice-president of the Association of University Teachers.

“Colleges say such degrees are saleable but this is a way of deceiving parents. Since there is a demand for B. Com, the government could well start separate colleges for commerce and regulate the degrees as it has been done in Delhi,” he said.

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