The Maharashtra Department of Higher and Technical Education has ordered Universal Business School (UBS) in Karjat to refund fees to students enrolled in unauthorised courses. The amount of fees runs up to many crores. Additionally, UBS has been fined INR 5 lakh.
UBS had been offering Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and Bachelor of Arts in Business Management (BABM) programmes without proper authorisation. The department has directed UBS to reimburse the fees of 268 students.
UBS has challenged the ruling by filing an appeal with the secretary of higher education. The BBA and BABM programmes were offered in collaboration with Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK. However, students were informed that their degrees were not equivalent when they applied for higher education.
The department received numerous complaints from students in September 2023. This led to an investigation and a public notification. The public notification revealed that UBS has not been authorised by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
The public notice further stated, “The BBA and BABM courses were running without any permission from the Maharashtra government. This is a gross violation of government provisions.” The courses offered by UBS were found to be in violation of the Maharashtra Unauthorised Institution and Unauthorised Practice Courses Act, 2013.
UBS has also been instructed to immediately close its BBA and BABM courses. According to reports, the institute had pulled their BABM course in September 2022 following new regulations by the UGC.
However, the students have expressed the need for degree equivalency from the apex body for their BBA degree.
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