University Grants Commission (UGC), the higher education regulator, has issued a public notice saying that it has come to the notice of UGC recently that some EdTech companies are giving advertisements in newspaper/social media/television etc. that they are offering degree and diploma programmes in ODUOnline modes in association with some universities or institutions recognized/entitled by the UGC. It has also warned of punitive action (derecognition) of such universities who offered such degrees with edtech firms.
It has stated that such a franchisee arrangement is not permissible and action will be taken against defaulting EdTech companies as well as HEls under applicable laws/ rules/ regulations.
“All the students are also hereby advised that they should check the recognition/entitlement status of the programmes on UGC(DEB) website mentioned above before enrolling in any course.
As per the UGC Notice, the Regulations mandate that these HEls shall not offer ODL and/or Online programme(s) under any franchise arrangement and the HEls themselves are completely responsible for the programme(s). The details of the HEls and the programmes recognized /entitled by UGC is available on httas://deb.ugc.ac.in.
