UGC bars institutions from awarding 'unspecified' degrees

Hyderabad: Designing nomenclature of various degree programmes to attract students will be a thing of the past.

A University Grants Commission (UGC) directive to universities said that awarding unspecified degrees in violation of Section 22 of the UGC Act, 1956 is giving rise to several legal problems.

It may be mentioned here that the UGC direction has come following several private institutions offering diplomas and degrees with attractive nomenclature and collect huge fees. However, the degrees are questioned when the students are applying for jobs and exploring other opportunities like further studies.

It was against this backdrop that the UGC reminded to the universities, the "right of conferring or granting degrees shall be exercised only by a university established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, a provisional Act or a State Act or an institution deemed to be a university under section 3 or an institution specially empowered by an Act of Parliament to confer or grant degrees."

Also, the universities have to award degrees only within the framework of section 22 of the UGC Act. For this, the UGC said that it has already notified the nomenclature of about 163-degree programmes, covering different fields under Section 22(3) of the UGC Act.

However, in violation of the existing rules, the UGC said that some universities and institutions are awarding unspecified degrees. In turn, it is leading to litigations and different problems for the students conferred with such degrees.

Following these developments, the Commission asked VCs of all the universities and higher educational institutions (HEIs) in the country to take necessary steps and ensure awarding degrees that are specified by it.

However, if any HEI or university intends to award a degree with a different nomenclature other than those approved by the UGC, then, all such institutions will have to take prior approval from the Commission six months ahead of the starting of the course.

Further, while applying, the institutions should also need to fully justify the course and why they wanted to give different nomenclature.