The University Grants Commission on Wednesday gave 29 deemed universities 24 hours to drop the word “university” from their names, or lose the deemed tag.
University Grants Commission secretary PK Thakur wrote to the institutes, including leading ones such as Symbiosis International University in Pune, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute in Belur Math and Manipal University, asking them to respond by 4 pm on Thursday.
The directive from the higher education regulator comes after a Supreme Court order on November 3, asking the UGC to stop deemed-to-be universities from using the word “university” in their names, two letters from the UGC said.
The first letter was sent to seven institutes, including Symbiosis, the Bengaluru-based Christ University and Jain University, asking them to change their names because, while granting them the deemed status on the UGC’s recommendation, the government had used the word “university” with their names, the Hindustan Times reported.
The second directive was issued to 19 institutes, including Manipal and Delhi’s Teri University, asking them to “revert” to the names the government notified while giving them the deemed-to-be status. Manipal University, for instance, was registered as Manipal Academy of Higher Education, the report said.
The UGC had earlier sent a letter to all 123 deemed universities twice, on November 10 and November 13, giving them 15 days to stop using the term.
On Thursday, PEC University of Technology said it will switch back to its former name, Punjab Engineering College, the Hindustan Times reported. “As soon as we received the UGC letter, we changed the name,” PEC director Manoj Arora told the newspaper.
Swami Suvirananda, general secretary of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, told The Telegraph, “We are aware of the UGC’s recommendation and have accordingly made the necessary changes.”
Bengaluru’s Christ University will now be called Christ, while the Energy and Resources Institute, or Teri University, and Manipal University also said they will change their names.
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