Leading institutions forced to drop ‘university’ title

Prominent institutions of higher education in India, including many private and specialised institutions, that enjoyed so-called ‘deemed university’ status can no longer use the word 'university' in their names, sparking fears it could affect their reputation, international rankings and future student recruitment if students and parents are confused about their status as degree-awarding institutions.

India’s higher education regulator, the University Grants Commission, or UGC, had asked 123 deemed universities all over the country to stop using the word 'university' and had set a deadline of 30 November for them to comply with the order. The institutions had to submit proposals for an alternate name which can mention the words ‘Deemed University’ within parenthesis.

It comes in the wake of a Supreme Court order of 3 November stating that the use of the word 'university' by such institutions is in violation of the UGC Act. The top court further asked the UGC to implement the order.

A last-ditch attempt, filed on behalf of deemed universities by the Education Promotion Society of India, for them to be allowed to retain the university tag did not meet with success. The top court on 1 December rejected their application seeking a review of its 3 November order.

With this order, leading institutions such as Manipal University at Manipal in Karnataka, Symbiosis International University in Pune, Christ University in Bengaluru, among others, have been forced to drop the word ‘university’ from their names.

The deemed universities are higher education institutions other than universities – which can only be created by the state or central governments – “working at a very high standard in a specific area of study”, according to the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Deemed universities enjoyed the privileges and status of full universities.

The UGC had been threatening to revoke the university title of the deemed universities for many years, but amid strong lobbying from the institutions likely to be affected, it only took action after the top court’s order.

However, Supreme Court judges Adarsh Kumar Goel and Uday Umesh Lalit ruled last Friday that an institution of excellence would continue to remain an institution of excellence even without using the ‘university’ tag. The institutions of excellence, 10 of them private and 10 publicly-funded, first mentioned in the 2016 budget, will get extra funding to push them to achieve world-class status and achieve a place in the top 100 in any of the major global rankings.

Effect on recruitment, collaborations

Symbiosis International Deemed University (earlier Symbiosis International University) Principal Director Dr Vidya Yeravdekar said: “The name change will affect foreign students' admissions, our international collaborations, global rankings, etc, as the deemed university concept does not exist in the global parlance of academia.”

Referring to international collaborations, she said: "Who will want to partner with an institution that is not a university?" She added: “Students from 85 different nations are on our rolls. Many of them are here on their government's scholarships which are awarded only for studies at universities. We will no longer be able to attract such students on scholarships as ‘deemed university’ is a concept that foreign governments are not familiar with.”

However, Dr Narayana Sabhahit, the registrar of Manipal University, now re-named Manipal Academy of Higher Education (Deemed University), said it was only a change of name and the institution’s status as a deemed university was not affected.

“Manipal is synonymous with excellence in higher education and we have students coming from 57 countries. This testifies [to] our reputation which is not going to be shaken by the mere name change,” he told local media.

Kavita Saxena, associate professor of Zoology at Bhopal’s Sarojini Naidu Girls’ College in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, said: “These institutions have expanded the base of higher education in the country and are offering quality education and research facilities in various disciplines. Asking them to drop the word ‘university’ is not proper as it would create confusion among students and others.”

Many students have been concerned at what they see as an altered higher education landscape. Rakesh Dixit, in his third year of a bachelor of engineering degree in civil engineering at Chandigarh’s Punjab Engineering College (Deemed University), said: “This decision will affect the brand name of the institution. Our degrees will be downgraded which in turn will hurt our future employment prospects.”

Shefali Trivedi, who aspires to pursue a bachelor of science degree in biotechnology at Bengaluru’s Christ (Deemed University), said: “Deemed universities have been using the tag for years and enjoy huge goodwill and reputation because of it. People associate these institutions with the word ‘university’. Now they have been stripped of the tag despite their reputation and long-standing service. But I’ll study at Christ if I’m successful in getting admission.”