279 technical colleges fake, Delhi tops the list

NEW DELHI: Delhi is the capital of fake colleges.

It has 66 colleges — the highest for any state in India — that offer engineering and other technical courses without the regulator’s permission. There are 279 such technical institutes in the country. Simply put, these schools don’t have the authority to grant degrees. Education certificates issued by such colleges are nothing but a piece of paper.

The Capital also has seven of the country’s 23 fake universities, the UGC has said.

In an annual review, the UGC and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) last month put out a list of such fake institutes on their websites, warning students ahead of the new academic session that kicks in next month.

“We send the list of unapproved and unregulated technical institutions to concerned state authorities for taking appropriate action against such institutions,” an official said. Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Maharasthra also have a sizable number of fake technical institutes.

To ensure students don’t apply to such colleges, the technical education regulator, the AICTE, has also issued notices to these schools for not taking its approval.

“Public notices are also published in newspapers cautioning the students not to take admission in such unapproved institutions,” the official said. Minister of state for human resource development Mahendra Nath Pandey told the RS recently that the ministry had written to state governments to investigate the matter and file FIRs against fake varsities.