Government Taking Action Against 21 Fake Universities

Government has shared a list of 21 “fake universities” that are operating in the country and asked the respective state governments to take legal action against them. Out of these 21 “fake universities”, a maximum of eight are running in Delhi. The list was announced by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Lok Sabha. The list of fake universities is available on the website of the University Grants Commission (UGC) at https://www.ugc.gov.in/universitydetails/Fakeuniversity.

The ministry is taking measures to prevent these institutions from defrauding and cheating students by misrepresenting themselves as ‘universities.

News agency IANS quoted the minister as saying that apart from issuing public notices for general awareness through social media and UGC website for cautioning the general public, students, parents and other stakeholders, other steps have also been taken by the UGC/government against such ‘fake universities.'

Minister of State for Education Sukanta Majumdar told the Lok Sabha that there has been an overall increase of Rs 2875.29 crore in the budget allocation to the Department of Higher Education in 2024-25 as compared to 2023-24. The department's total budget in 2024-25 was Rs 47,619.77 crore as compared to Rs 44,744.48 crore in 2023-24.

Answering a question on the public expenditure on institutions of higher education in Rajasthan, the MoS said that a total of Rs 556.86 crore has been released in FY 2024-25 till November 30, 2024, to three Centrally Funded Higher Education Institutions in Rajasthan, namely IIT Jodhpur, Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur and Central University of Rajasthan. Further, Rs 535.99 crore was provided for setting up IIM Udaipur and IIIT Kota in Rajasthan, the MoS said.