We aren’t closing, says Delhi-based Pearl Academy

NEW DELHI: Responding to a Hindustan Times report, Delhibased fashion institute Pearl Academy has said that it is not closing its centres in Noida, Jaipur and Mumbai.

The institute did, however, admit to receiving a notice from the University Grants Commission, asking it to stop awarding undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University (UK) since it is not a “university” within the definition of the UGC Act 1956.

In an e-mail to HT, Pearl Academy group chairman Deepak Seth said, “The academy had received a notice on the 23rd of May (attached) enquiring about the relationship with NTU . We had replied… This notice does not in any way talk about the closure of all our centres. Since then we are in active discussion with UGC and the ministry on the matter.” The email went on to say: “Our communication to our students and prospective students has been consistent and transparent (including our website) as regard the granting of the certification by the NTU and delivered by the Pearl Academy, hence the claim that we are misleading students is false.”

The UGC in its notice dated May 23, 2016, said, “It has become a matter of grave concern as many students are becoming victims of fraudulent act of the institute.”

In a response to the University Grants Commission, Pearl Academy CEO Sharad Mehra said his institute is outside the ambit of the UGC Promotion and Maintenance of Standards of Academic Collaborations between India and Foreign Educational Institutions Regulations 2012.