The University Grants Commission (UGC) has altered students against two ‘self-styled’ institutions in Tamil Nadu’s Kuttalam. The two institutions are identified as Open International University for Alternative Medicines and the National Board of Alternative Medicines. UGC, in a notice, said that the two ‘self-styled’ institutions are offering various courses in gross violation of the UGC Act, 1956. It dded that taking admission to such self-styled institutions may jeopardize the student’s careers.

Both institutions are not eligible to award degrees as per the UGC guidelines. They do not have the authority to award degrees as they are not established under sections of the UGC act. The Commission stated that the Open International University for Alternative Medicines and the National Board of Alternative Medicines are not enlisted under Section 2(f) or Section 3 in the list of universities nor permitted to award any degree as per Section 22 of the UGC Act, 1956, the notice adds.

“The right of conferring or granting degrees shall be exercised only by a University established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, a Provincial 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 of confer or grant degrees,” the commission said through an official notice. It added that the two institutions will not be allowed to use the term university in their names as they are not established under a central, provincial, or state act.

Last year in August, UGC published a list of fake universities (state-wise) and also warned students not to pursue any programme from the universities as they were not recognised by the commission. UGC had then declared 21 universities as “fake” stating that these varsities were not entitled to confer any degree as they were not recognised by them. Of the 21 ‘fake’ universities on the list, four were in Uttar Pradesh, eight were located in Delhi. While other states and union territories in which these universities operated were Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Puducherry.

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