KOCHI: The mystery behind the lone university from Kerala that has repeatedly been listed as a fake institution by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for more than 15 years remains unresolved.
However, even as the ‘university’ continues to find a place on the fake list, educational institutions that share its name are bearing the brunt of the negative reviews posted by the ‘vigilant’. A private training institute in Pathanamthitta is a case in point.
Interestingly, the name of the institution — St John’s University — and its claimed location Kishanattam -- are both bogus. According to Alexander Thomas, owner of St John’s Group of Institutions, just because the said university has the same name as their institution they are getting negative reviews and that too for no fault of theirs.
“Also, it should be noted that we are not claiming to be a university. Ours is an institution that teaches welding and other vocational skills,” he said. “After being at the receiving end of harsh phone calls and also very negative reviews, we decided to search out this so-called university. But even after reaching out to various sources, we were neither able to find any physical evidence of the presence of such an institution nor even the place,” said Alexander. However, people don’t differentiate between a university and a training institute. “For them, all that matters is the name,” he added.
The UGC has been sending letters to the additional chief secretary of higher education of Kerala requesting appropriate action against the fake university. However, the appearance of the name of the university in the consecutive lists published by UGC shines the spotlight on the inaction of the said department.
As per the UGC letter, the department has been urged to inform the current status of unrecognised institutions functioning in the state. The higher education department has been asked to file an FIR against the institution. Also if the said fake institution is not existing, the same has to be notified along with proof to the UGC. This is to remove the name of the institution from the list of fake universities maintained by the UGC. However, it can be seen that since the name of St John’s University continues to feature every year, no such action has been taken by the department.