UGC calls for action to shut down fake study centre in Dhaka

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has urged the authorities concerned to shut down a fake study centre opened in Dhaka under the name of a non-existent university in the US.

The study centre, Lincoln's Higher Education and Management, is reportedly overseeing student admission to a university named American Independent University in the US state of California. 

However, the UGC, in a media statement, said it did not find any university in this name in the US.

The commission came to know about the study centre when a notification was issued to admit students to the non-existent university.

The university has a website (https://www.aiuedu.org/). However, upon reviewing the website, the UGC found that it was opened in 2014 in Naogaon district. An analysis of a picture used on the website showed that it was taken from the website of the University of Cambridge.

Prof Biswajit Chanda, member of the UGC, said it was an illegal and punishable offence to admit students or conduct educational activities in any branch campus or study centre of a foreign university without taking permission from the government as per the Private University Act, 2010.

“Operating a study centre of a non-existent university is an extreme violation of the law,” he said.

Prof Biswajit Chanda urged students and job aspirants to be careful in this regard.

Earlier, the UGC also issued a warning about the non-existent Bangabandhu International University in Saidpur.