CONDITION FOR GIVING AFFILIATION

CONDITION FOR GIVING AFFILIATION

AU sets April 30 deadline for colleges to prove 3,000 PhDs of faculty aren’t fake

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:14.03.2021 

Engineering colleges seeking affiliation with Anna University are yet to produce genuineness certificates for PhD degrees obtained by more than 3,000 faculty members. The university directed the colleges to submit the certificates on or before April 30.

Around 510 engineering and stand-alone colleges sought Anna University affiliation for 2021-22. In their applications, the colleges have submitted that around 9,500 faculty members on their rolls have PhD degrees.

To weed out fake PhDs and prevent faculty members lending their names to more than one college, the university asked all colleges to get genuineness certificates from the respective universities and submit it during the affiliation process. However, certificates were produced only for around 6,000 faculty members.

The university had also informed colleges that faculty members were submitting fake Aadhaar numbers, PAN cards and degree certificates and instructed colleges to verify documents with originals before uploading them.

“In addition, PhD degree holders are obtaining PhD degrees from different universities and lending their names to more number of colleges. It is also suspected that some faculty members have bogus PhD degree certificates and working in affiliated colleges,” the university said in a letter.

A principal from a private engineering college, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said few colleges showed researchers and faculty members from deemed universities as faculty members of their institutions due to poor admissions. “Such colleges may not be able to produce genuineness certificates as it would land the concerned faculty member in trouble. A few also got PhDs from dubious institutions. So it’s doubtful whether all institutions would submit the genuineness certificates,” he said.

Engineering colleges said universities charge more than ₹1,000 per faculty member and added that obtaining genuineness certificates has become difficult due to the pandemic.

“Most faculty members working in affiliated colleges got their PhDs from Anna University. When the university demands genuineness certificates, it should also take effort to reduce the fee for the same. It is an additional burden for colleges,” a principal from a city college said.

M A Maluk Mohammed, director and correspondent of MAM College of Engineering and Technology in Trichy, said the move would ensure that all faculty members are genuinely qualified.