Alert! UGC declares 21 universities as fake; two from Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Ahead of admissions in higher educational institutions for the academic session 2022-23, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has alerted students not to get enrolled in two universities in Odisha, describing those as ‘fake’.

Like previous years, the statutory body of the Ministry of Education listed Rourkela-based Nababharat Shiksha Parishad and North Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology in Baripada town of Mayurbhanj district as the fake universities this year too.

These two educational institutions in Odisha are among 21 universities in the country declared as fake by the UGC this year.

The UGC has termed the list of universities as “self-styled, unrecognised institutions” with no power to confer degrees.

“Students and Public at large are hereby informed that presently following 21 self-styled, unrecognized institutions which are functioning in contravention of the UGC Act, have been declared as fake universities and these are not empowered to confer any degree,” read the UGC statement.

Of 21, while eight of these fake universities are from Delhi, four are from Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha have two fake universities each and Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh have one each.

Apart from Nababharat Shiksha Parishad and Baripada-based North Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, All India Institute of Public and Physical Health Sciences (AIIPPHS), Commercial University Ltd., United Nations University, Vocational University, ADR-Centric Juridical University, Indian Institution ofScience and Engineering, Viswakarma Open University for Self-employment and Adhyatmik Vishwavidyalaya (Spiritual University) have been termed as fake universities in Delhi.

Similarly, the fake universities in Uttar Pradesh included Gandhi Hindi Vidyapith, Prayag; National University of Electro Complex Homeopathy, Kanpur; Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose University and Bhartiya Shiksha Parishad, Bharat Bhawan fake institutes of Uttar Pradesh.

Moreover, the Indian Institute of Alternative Medicine and Institute of Alternative Medicine and Research are the fake universities in West Bengal.

Besides, the Badaganvi Sarkar World Open University Education Society of Karnataka; St. John’s University, Kishanattam, Kerala; Raja Arabic University, Nagpur, Maharashtra; Sree Bodhi Academy of Higher Education Puducherry and Christ New Testament Deemed University of Andhra Pradesh have been declared fake universities.