Deemed universities concerned about revenue

New Delhi: The Government appointed committee to review the functioning of deemed universities said that many private deemed universities are predominantly concerned about revenue generation rather than promoting academic and research activities.

The panel is headed by P N Tandon in its report, has also suggested setting up a national committee for fixing rational fee structure for deemed universities which can be reviewed from time to time. Most of the deemed universities have fee structure considerably higher than that recommended by the official fee structure committees established according to the Supreme Court directives. Many of them created their own fee structure committees to justify the exorbitant fees, according to the report which have been submitted to the apex court.



The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the matter tomorrow. The committee has found 44 of the 130 deemed universities to be unfit for the status while another 44 have been found deficient in many areas. It has recommended that the 44 deficient deemed universities should be given three years time to rectify their short comings while the deemed university status should be withdrawn from those found unfit.

"Except a few public-funded institutions, quality research is not done in any of the deemed universities. Research, which is a major component of university, is not being carried out by these institutions," said the report. It also stated that there is not a single example of technology transfer, generation of patents and intellectual property in these institutions. Even though the UGC guidelines speak about holding an all-India entrance test to enroll students, the deemed universities never follow any common entrance examination. They conduct their own entrance which is very often restricted to limited geographical locations or regions.

The committee has recommended that the highest governing body of the deemed universities should be headed by the vice-chancellor and should include distinguished academics and professionals as its members.