UGC threatens to derecognise PTU

Ruchika M Khanna

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 10

In a major embarrassment for the Punjab Government, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has threatened to withdraw the letter of recognition given to IK Gujral Punjab Technical University, if it were to start distance education programme through the franchisee mode.

In a communiqué sent to the Chief Secretary and chairman, Board of Governors of the university, Sarvesh Kaushal, the Secretary, UGC, has reiterated that the state’s premier technical university cannot run its distance education programme through franchisee mode.

The immediate provocation for the UGC to send this letter to the state government was the latter’s claims that the owners of the open and distance learning centres of IK Gujral Technical University could soon start their operations. The statement was issued after the university got clearance from the UGC to run its distance learning programmes on August 5. The university has been allowed to start distance education within its territorial jurisdiction in 11 courses: MSc (IT), MCA, PGDCA, BSc (IT), BCA, MBA, BBA, MCom, BCom, BA in journalism and mass communication and MA in journalism and mass communication.

The letter sent to the state government by Secretary, UGC, Jaspal Singh Sandhu, a copy of which is with The Tribune, says that the university can run its programme only within the territorial jurisdiction of Punjab and no courses can be run under the franchisee mode and all centres will be run only as the university’s own centres. The university has also been barred from offering distance education programme through any private institution or college.

“… the two cardinal policy decisions of UGC should not be violated by the IK Gujral Technical University, failing which the UGC will have no choice but to rescind the letter of recognition given to the university on August 5,” states the letter sent by the UGC.

However, despite repeated attempts, the Secretary, Technical Education, and the university’s Dean, Distance Education, could not be contacted.

The university’s distance education programme has remained closed since 2012 due to some pending clearances from the UGC. The university, which earlier ran these courses through franchisee mode, has over 2,000 distance education centres across the country, which was being run in public-private partnership mode.