UP tops list with fake universities

With the University Grants Commission (UGC) coming out with its annual list of fake universities for the year ending 2011, Uttar Pradesh has earned another dubious distinction. The most populous state tops the list as according to the UGC it has as many as eight fake universities. 

Not lagging behind is Delhi, which comes second with six fake varsities. 

According to experts, fake universities mushrooming nation-wide certainly do paint a grim picture for higher education. 

UGC sources said most of these universities do not even have a registered office but have a beautiful name and network of ‘agents’ to trap students. 

Besides UP and Delhi, Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu too feature on the UGC list with one university each in these states. 

Maharashtra, considered to be on the forefront of higher education otherwise, too has one fake university — the Raja Arabic University at Nagpur. 

Abhay Pethe of University of Mumbai said, “The state should initiate criminal proceedings against such universities and student’s money should be returned with interest.”

Reacting to the demand, principal secretary of higher education of Maharashtra, Sanjay Kumar, said, “We will definitely take action against this fake university.”