UGC flags 16 private universities, warns students against admission

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has raised a red flag against 16 private universities and asked the students to be cautious about enrolling at those.

The commission issued the alert through a notice on Sunday detailing the current status of these universities.

It advised the students to get admitted to only UGC-approved institutions and programmes; otherwise, they might face problem regarding the recognition of their degrees.

The commission also said, "It would not bear any responsibility if someone gets admitted to the unregistered institutions or courses."

The notice said IBAIS University has rival groups in its trustee board fighting against each other in court. A court order has also halted a UGC move to settle the issue following a case lodged by one of the groups.

Queens University, Sylhet International University, Britania University, Premier University, Prime University and the Southern University of Bangladesh are also embroiled in cases over the dispute between rival groups in their trustee boards.

The America Bangladesh University and Queens University are operating with the help of a court stay order against the closure by the government.

Southern University of Bangladesh's campuses in Dhaka's Uttara, Dhanmondi, Khulna's Baira, Kushtia's Majampur, Rangpur's Lalbagh, and Chittagong's OR Nizam Road and Chawkbazar are unregistered.

The University of Science and Technology also has unregistered campuses at Central Road in Chittagong and Dhanmondi in Dhaka.

Rabindra Maitree University in Kushtia, Anwer Khan Modern University and the Central University of Science and Technology in Dhaka, Rabindra Srijonkala University in Keraniganj, and Rupayan AKM Shamsuzzaman University in Narayanganj have not received permission to admit students.

The UGC published a notice on Apr 26 asking students "not to get admitted to unregistered courses at Gono University in Savar." The High Court has dismissed a writ petition by the university challenging the UGC notice.

The government has closed all campuses of Darul Ihsan University.

The UGC notice on Sunday also said the commission or education ministry does not approve any foreign university to operate in Bangladesh. It alerted the students to watch out for fraudulent business activities by any university claiming to be a branch, campus or study centre of any foreign university.

A total of 89 private universities is operating in Bangladesh now.

According to the UGC, the president, who is also chancellor of all the universities in Bangladesh, has appointed vice-chancellors to 49 of these universities, pro-VCs to 18 and treasurer to 40.