Christ College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education and Symbiosis International University are among the educational institutions in India that have been asked to drop the word ‘University’ from their names following a directive by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
The UGC pulled up “deemed to be universities” who were using the suffix “university” in their institution’s name, ordering them to drop the suffix as they still did not have university status.
Deemed-to-be universities conduct their own examinations and award degrees on their own.
In a letter addressing 22 institutions including Manipal Academy of Higher Education, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, the UGC pointed out that they did not have ‘university’ in the name notified by the government and asked them to drop the ‘university’ word within 24 hours.
Meanwhile, in a separate letter, seven other institutions including Christ College and Jain College were asked to submit proposals suggesting a new name within 15 days.
The UGC was following up a Supreme Court judgement dated November 3, asking the UGC to strictly implement Section 23 of the UGC Act, 1956 which prohibits the use of the word ‘university’. In a letter dated November 10, the UGC listed 123 institutions to drop the word ‘university’ from its names.