Under the fear of losing its deemed university status, Symbiosis has dropped the term 'university' from the name.
A final warning letter was sent to the seven institutes by UGC in which it asked the institutes to drop the tag 'university' from their name or they may lose the status of deemed university in the coming future.
In the final letter which was sent to the universities on November 29, UGC warned the institutes to drop the tag 'university' by 4 pm on November 30. Symbiosis compiled with the directive and also informed the UGC about the same.
Dr Vidya Yeravdekar, principal director, Symbiosis, said that "the institute has written to the UGC on Thursday, stating that it would be called Symbiosis International (Deemed University) henceforth. The institute was earlier called the Symbiosis International University."
“We have no other option… otherwise, they will withdraw the deemed university status. They issued the notice to many deemed universities. A group of these universities have moved the Supreme Court, requesting a stay on the order… the case comes up for hearing tomorrow. Since the deadline is 4 pm today, we wrote to the UGC, saying that we will change our name to ‘Symbiosis International (Deemed University)… but if there is a stay on this notification, then they should allow us to revert to our original name,” said Yeravdekar.
Earlier, UGC had put 123 such institutes on list asking them to drop the tag 'university' from their name. UGC took steps after SC on November 3 directed the UGC to take necessary to steps to stop 'deemed-to-be' universities from using the tag university in the name.
While officials from the UGC could not be reached for the comment, sources said that most of the 123 universities have communicated to the
UGC that they will follow the directive without any delay.