Stem the rot

The result of the private universities of Himachal Pradesh is out. Sadly, it is shamefully poor in many cases. The most notorious or unscrupulous student would pale in comparison to the disgraceful scores of some universities. In fact, the ingenious methods and means that they are purported to have adopted to stay in the business of academics should disqualify them from the field for they don’t deserve the tag of a university. With the kind of unethical practices resorted to, they make the grade for nothing more than petty cheating shops. A latest ingenious scheme of hoodwinking the authorities pertains to Indus International University, Una. It has allegedly awarded professional degrees to three of its non-teaching staffers who were on regular payrolls and then even appointed two of them as assistant professors on the basis of those degrees.

The state and regulatory authorities are already looking into Manav Bharti University, Solan, which is leading the pack in doling out fake degrees. Its founder has been implicated by the University Grants Commission for printing and selling over five lakh fake degrees in the past seven years. With the scam’s footprint spanning the country, the repercussions of fake degree-holders invading the job market are scary. Perhaps, these scandalous exposures are just the tip of the iceberg. The well-intended goal of enabling the maximum number of students access to higher education by relaxing norms for private parties to set up universities seems to have taken a dangerous turn.

That things have been allowed to descend to such lows is a poor reflection on the working of the state and regulatory authorities concerned. They can no longer afford to neglect the rot that has set into the system. A probe into the functioning of each of the 17 private universities, established between 2002 and 2014 — 10 of them in Solan alone — is the need of the hour. The goings-on in all sections — student admissions, fees, faculty, infrastructure, courses, placements — reek of irregularities, as per the CAG report. The report has been gathering dust for two years.