UGC declared 23 Indian institutions as fake universities — and they have been ‘fake’ for over a decade now

• The University Grants Commission released a list of 23 ‘fake universities’ in India.
  
• Of the total 23 universities, 14 have been on the UGC’s list from 2005 — including Commercial University, United Nations University, Vocational University among others.
  
• Despite that, several universities have also claimed on their websites that they are approved by the UGC.

This admission season, the University Grants Commission is providing a much-needed reality check to prospective students and their parents. It released a list of 23 ‘fake universities’. Unfortunately, they are all functional, though unrecognised under the UGC Act.

Most of such universities are from Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. These include Vishwakarma Open University for Self-Employment, Varanaseya Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Indian Institute of Science and Engineering, Delhi and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose University.

This is not the first time that these colleges have featured in the UGC’s annual list of fake universities. Of the total 23 universities, 14 have been on the UGC’s list from 2005 — including Commercial University, United Nations University, Vocational University and ADR-Centric Juridical University in Delhi.

In fact, the United Nations University, Vocational University, Commercial University appeared in the list of fake universities last year too. Several of these universities continue to claim that they are approved by the UGC on their websites.

Badaganvi Sarkar World Open University Education Society, Karnataka, St. John's University, Kerala and Raja Arabic University, Maharashtra have been operational since 2005, despite the UGC’s checklist.

The University Grants Commission set up an anti-malpractice cell in 1995 to register complaints on established fake universities. While the board has filed FIRs against several institutions, many of them are still operational.

Check the list of 23 fake universities declared by UGC:

• National University of Electro Complex Homeopathy, Kanpur
• Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose University (Open University),
• Aligarh Uttar Pradesh Vishwavidyalaya, Kosi Kalan, Mathura
• Maharana Pratap Shiksha Niketan Vishwavidyalaya, Pratapgarh
• Varanaseya Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Uttar Pradesh
• Varanasi Mahila Gram Vidyapith/Vishwavidyalaya, (Women’s University), Allahabad
• Gandhi Hindi Vidyapith, Prayag, Allahabad
• Indraprastha Shiksha Parishad, Institutional Area, Khod
• ADR-Centric Juridical University, Delhi
• Indian Institute of Science and Engineering, Delhi
• Viswakarma Open University for Self-Employment, Delhi
• Commercial University Ltd., Daryaganj
• United Nations University, Delhi
• Vocational University, Delhi
• Adhyatmik Vishwavidyalaya, Delhi
• Varanaseya Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Delhi
• Nababharat Shiksha Parishad, Anupoorna Bhawan, Rourkela
• North Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology, Odisha
• Indian Institute of Alternative Medicine, Kolkata
• Institute of Alternative Medicine and Research, Kolkata
• Badaganvi Sarkar World Open University Education Society
• Belgaum St John’s University, Kishanattam
• Raja Arabic University, Nagpur
• Sree Bodhi Academy of Higher Education, Puducherry

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