University breach leaves students in the lurch

CHENNAI: The fate of thousands of students taking up regular courses in the various centres of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University across the country hangs in balance after it was found out that the varsity had violated provisions of the University Act by conducting regular degree courses outside the jurisdiction of the university.According to evidence available with Express, former vice-chancellor of the university, Sabapathy Mohan, also a close aide of former higher education minister K Ponmudi, created a separate website www.msuemba.in and invited applications for starting regular and distance education programmes of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University.University sources told Express that franchising is not allowed by the Distance Education Council. However, Sabapathy granted affiliation to 73 national-level collaborators who in turn were authorised to give franchise on their own without any inspection from the university.What is more, national collaborators gave franchise to 1,044 private institutes putting to risk the fate of thousands of students who have enrolled thinking that the programme offered by these franchisees was a regular course. Even though complaints were lodged with the UGC, the Ministry of Human Resources Development and the state education department, no action has been taken.Interestingly, the university has authorised private partners to conduct technical courses, like Masters in Engineering, Masters in Technology, MBA-Finance, MBA-Logistics, BSc-Fire and Safety in various parts of the country.