HRD Ministry Drops 'University' From Names Of 14 Institutions, Christ University Will Now Be Called 'Christ', Jain University Renamed 'Jain'

The HRD ministry on Friday rechristened 14 deemed-to-be universities after dropping the word university from the institutions’ title adhering to Supreme Court order.

In Bengaluru, Christ University will now be known as only “Christ”, and Jain University as  “Jain”.  Santosh University has been renamed “Santosh”, reported The Indian Express.

Universities are set up after Parliament or assemblies pass an Act but colleges of higher education are given the deemed-to-be-university status by the government to save time and money spent in setting up universities from scratch and address immediate shortage of universities. The deemed university tag also makes sure that the institute introduces research facilities, which is one of the prerequisites.

But when some of the universities began to oversell themselves by calling themselves universities in title, the supreme court found that they run afoul of Section 23 of the UGC Act.

The Section 23 of the UGC Act, 1956 says, "No institution, whether a corporate body or not, other than a University established or incorporated by or under a Central Ac[ a Provincial Act or a State Act] shall be entitled to have the word "University" associated with its name in any manner whatsoever."

The blame lies with the MHRD for the mess, which wrongly referred the institutions as universities in a notification. The new order now has amended the folly.

Symbiosis International University, Pune is now just Symbioisis International and Graphic Era University In Dehradun is renamed 'Graphic Era'.

According to the MHRD, “an Institution of Higher Education, other than universities, working at a very high standard in specific area of study, can be declared by the Central Government on the advice of the UGC as an Institution ‘Deemed-to-be-university’. Institutions that are ‘deemed-to-be-university’ enjoy academic status and privileges of a university.”

According to the report, only alternative names suggested by four of the fourteen deemed universities were accepted by the HRD.  For the rest 10, the word 'University' was simply removed.