There may hardly be a place which is free from the dubious presence of fake universities. A fake university is an entity which fraudulently claims to be a university. It does not have any authority to award any diploma or a degree. It uses unscrupulous means in giving out certificates, diplomas and degrees under a fictitious seal to gullible people at a price. The number of such institutions is on the rise due to the hordes of malicious and unscrupulous minds who exploit the psychological vulnerabilities of naive and trusting people. There are others who are ever ready to compromise their own conscience for the smallest advantage. Such people are also seen in the game of fake degrees. It is all about the connivance of the exploiters and the exploited on both sides. Since most of these universities carry out clandestine operations, the system finds it hard to take them to task. Some of these fake universities have been operating for years in the country.
Fake universities are doing business with all kinds of people including dropouts, job seekers, promotion seekers, matrimonial seekers, law makers, etc. A large number of their clients are found to be from amongst overseas dropouts. They are the ones who are unable to successfully complete their degree programs due to a mismatch between the courses and their abilities. Such candidates find refuge in the shadow of fake certificates and degrees to make up for the time lost. Even law makers are no exception to such reprehensible acts. It was as late as 2015 when a law maker, who had even become the Law Minister, was arrested on charges of counterfeiting documents and submitting fake degrees. There are tens of millions of people who sometimes intentionally and sometimes by mistake are caught in this vicious cycle, out of which there seems to be no escape.
It is quite surprising to find that at one point there were as many as 211 fake universities in the United States of America and 75 in the United Kingdom which were fraudulently offering degrees. These universities were blacklisted when large cases of degree fraud were found out in these countries. But by then the damage had been done. They had spoiled the careers of innumerable youth from across the globe. Hundreds of Indian students were also hoodwinked by the California-based Tri-Valley University in 2011. It turned out to be a sham university. It used to lure students into the deal by waiving essential admissions’ requirements and promising both employment and immigration at an upfront rate of $16,000. Some countries have now put in place a system through which one can ascertain the antecedents of the university before making a final choice. They have also established law enforcement agencies which oversee such operations and inflict severe punishment on fraudsters.
People worldwide are involved in such unlawful activities and India is not an exception to it. A university in India can be established only under a law enacted by a sovereign body, which may be either the central legislature of the state legislature, in the form of an Act. Thus, the Act becomes an instrument of a sovereign body which provides for the governance of the university. Entities created through other instrumentalities cannot use the title ‘university’. There are about two dozen such entities in India which are using the word ‘university’ illegally. They have been carrying out their undercover operations for quite some time. Perpetrators are using inaccurate or fictitious addresses making it hard for law enforcement agencies to arrest and prosecute them.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) is the sole regulator which is mandated to ensure the coordination and determination of standards in higher education in the country. Section-23 of the UGC Act, 1956 prohibits the use of the word ‘university’ to a body other than a university established or incorporated by or under a Central Act or a State Act. And, if someone contravenes the provisions of the UGC Act, that shall be punishable with a fine that may be extended to Rs 1,000. Such an insignificant provision of punishment was made by the makers of the UGC Act, 1956 because they were the people inspired by the ideals of the freedom struggle and the idea of corruption in education would not even have crossed their minds. The amount of penalty envisaged was more for its moral and ethical blow rather than any monetary hit.
The UGC has created a number of provisions under its Act to ensure transparency, objectivity and probity in the functioning of the university system across the country. While it has received appreciation for the outstanding services that it has rendered in the last 67 years, it has also invited criticism because of certain intrinsic limitations. The constant threat of fake universities and failure in exterminating them have been severe limitations. There has been no let-up in the number of fake universities for the last several years despite numerous measures taken by the UGC. There are about 24 fake universities that have been covertly operating in the country. And, with the onset of online teaching and learning, which has been given the go-ahead by the UGC through its integrated regulations and also been envisaged in the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, it is feared that the number of fake universities might rise spectacularly. Therefore, it must not go unchecked.
These fake universities are operating only from nine out of 36 states and union territories. Of them, eight are in the state of Uttar Pradesh, seven in Delhi, two each in West Bengal and Odisha and one each in Kerala, Karnataka, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. The UGC has been continuously issuing public notices in all-India editions of all major national and local dailies, warning them about stringent actions under the provision of both the UGC Act, 1956 and the Indian Penal Code (IPC), besides cautioning the public about their dubious operations. The UGC has been issuing such public notices and press releases in the beginning of each academic session along with the state wise list of these fake universities. The UGC has also been issuing show cause notices to these bodies but to no avail. The UGC had even filed the First Information Report (FIR) in certain cases but it was desperately exhausted by the no-show of these fraudsters in the court of law. The UGC has also been writing to the Chief Secretaries and Principal Secretaries of higher education of the respective states with the request to initiate action against these tricksters and scamsters but with little success.
It is understood that last month, the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi launched a crackdown on the seven fake universities which were carrying out their operations from Delhi. The government appears to have written to the office of the Commissioner of Police and asked them to file an action-taken report within the prescribed time limit. Such measures are essential to rein in the fraudulent operations of such bodies. It is hoped that other state governments would also initiate similar time-bound actions against these imposters.
There have been instances elsewhere in the world where such dubious institutions offering fake certificates and degrees have been effectively shut down through the force of law. But it is to be noted that it has neither been done by the regulators nor by the accreditors. It has been successfully accomplished through initiatives undertaken by the law enforcement agencies. The regulator is playing its role by way of creating awareness amongst the masses and informing the respective state governments about their existence. Serving notices to these fraudsters is of little consequences since they are operating from incorrect and fabricated addresses.
State authorities should assign the task of rounding up the operators of these fake universities to the intelligence agencies which can easily ensure the closure of these sham operators. The bottom line is that the closure of fake universities requires a coordinated effort which can be accomplished only with the expert power of the law enforcement agencies of the sovereign bodies.
The writer is former chairman of the UGC. The views expressed are personal.