Over the last five years, a total of 140 private universities were established nationwide, with Gujarat leading the way by acquiring 28, followed closely by Maharashtra with 15, as per statistics from the Ministry of Education. The data, accessed by PTI, reveals that Gujarat took the forefront in private university establishment, with Maharashtra not far behind, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka with 14 and 10 universities, respectively, during this period.
The establishment of a private university involves the enactment of an Act by the respective State legislature, along with a notification issued by the concerned State government, explained a senior Education Ministry official. The UGC includes the name of a private university in its list based on the copies of the Act and notification received from the university under Section 2(f) of the UGC Act, 1956. While private universities are authorized to confer general degree programs without UGC's specific approval, the official noted that permissions for professional and medical programs are granted by relevant regulatory or statutory bodies, such as the All India Council for Technical Education, National Medical Commission, and the Dental Council of India.
Chhattisgarh witnessed the establishment of seven private universities during the specified period, while Jharkhand and Rajasthan each gained six. Additionally, five universities were set up in Bihar, Odisha, Uttarakhand, and Telangana, with four each in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Manipur, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Sikkim, and Uttar Pradesh. The official highlighted that UGC consistently consults with institutions and universities to ensure compliance with norms, asserting that no major violations against UGC have been reported for these institutions thus far.
Examining the yearly distribution, the data reveals that the maximum number of private universities, totaling 40, were established in the 2018-19 academic session, while 34 were established during the 2021-22 academic session within the past five years.
