Shadwells International Business School will be dropped from the list of 77 off-campus centres sanctioned by Mahatma Gandhi University.
A day after The Hindu reported that the Kochi-based institution, facing criminal charges for human trafficking, is the University’s off-campus centre, Vice-Chancellor A.V. George directed the authorities not to issue an official order sanctioning the centre to Shadwells.
“Immediately after reading the report and ascertaining the facts, I have directed the officials not to issue the final order allotting the centre to Shadwells,” he told The Hindu on Friday.
‘Will ensure credibility’
Mr. George said the University would ensure credibility of the promoters of the off-campus centres before issuing the final order. “We will have another round of inspection to ensure that the off-campus centres approved by the Syndicate fulfil the norms prescribed,” he said.
However, the Vice-Chancellor feigned ignorance when asked whether nobody, including the members of the UDF-ruled Syndicate, had brought to his notice the criminal cases against the promoters of Shadwells, which has been in the limelight since November when the arrests were made.
Asked whether the University will review the list of 77 off-campus centres that got the green signal at the Syndicate meet held on January 17, Mr. George said the University was going through a financial crisis and sanctioning new off-campus centres was one way of tiding over the crisis.
“Many of the promoters have spent lakhs for setting up these off-campus centres and hence a review of the entire list is not practical. But we will definitely look at genuine cases,” he said.
No govt concurrence
The Vice-Chancellor admitted that he had received a communication from the Higher Education Department stating that there would be no government concurrence for the new off-campus centres. “But all the Syndicate members supported the move.
The University Syndicate can take a decision on off-campus centres even though there is no government concurrence for it,” he said.
