The University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked the Mahatma Gandhi University to shut down its seven international and six national off-campus centres immediately.
According to a letter written by Dev Kant Rao, deputy director of the UGC Distance Education Bureau (DEB) to the director of the varsity’s School of Distance Education, a copy of which is available with The Hindu , the opening of the centres was in violation of the UGC guidelines on territorial jurisdiction.
“The DEB, UGC vide its letter dated November 28, 2013, had requested the university to close down all study centres for offering programmes through distance mode opened in violation of the UGC policies. But it seems that the university has continued admitting students through these centres, thus jeopardizing the careers of the students,” says the letter.
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According to the list opublished on the MGU’s website, the seven international off-campus centres are at Sharjah, Doha, Bahrain, Dubai, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi and Oman.
The national centres offering off-campus programmes are in Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka and the Union Territory of New Delhi.