123 Indian institutes to lose 'university' from their names
A whopping 123 higher education institutes in India have been asked by the UGC to drop the word 'university' from their names. They can only use the phrase 'deemed to be university' (within parenthesis) under UGC rules. The list of the 123 institutes includes some reputed ones including BITS Pilani, Christ University (Bengaluru), Symbiosis International University (Pune) and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (Delhi).
UGC notification came after SC prodded it to take action
The notification came after the SC observed that use of 'university' in their names by deemed-to-be-varsities violates Section 23 of the UGC Act. The UGC has now given these institutes a month to change their names. Those institutes which had their 'deemed' status notified by the government with 'university' in their name can "also apply for an alternative name with the HRD Ministry".
Which institutes will be affected?
The order will apply to well-known institutes like Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (Delhi), Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (Delhi), Manav Rachna (Faridabad), Jamia Hamdard (Delhi), National Dairy Research Institute (Karnal), BIT Mesra (Ranchi), Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (Mumbai) and more.
UGC panel earlier suggested renaming of AMU, BHU
Last month, a UGC panel recommended dropping of religion from the names of the famous Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Banaras Hindu University (BHU). The proposal was based on the fact that both central universities are government-funded and hence are secular. It suggested renaming AMU to simply Aligarh University, or after its founder Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. BHU could be renamed similarly, it said.
