Ramnath Jeetah
2 August 2007
Port Louis — We refer to Raj Meetarbhan's editorial of the 25th July 2007 entitled "Les réseaux" and that of the 1st August 2007 entitled "Recherche de la vérité".
I wish to express my strong concern about the contents and the perception conveyed by your two editorials. It is highly regrettable that a paper that claims high credibility should lend itself to such partial assessment of the issues involved concerning EIILM University.
I wish to put on record the following with relevant documents attached:
1) My last statement to one of your journalists in the first week of June 2007 has been misinterpreted and used out of context by you. Please note that we have since then obtained registration from TEC to operate as a branch campus of EIILM University, India. The University in Mauritius is managed by the Ramnath Jeetah Trust and should not be confused with the registration of Ramnath Jeetah Trust with TEC as a post secondary education provider. For your information, setting up of a branch campus of an overseas University first requires a "no objection letter" from the Ministry of Education and Human Resources. Thereafter application for registration is made together with accreditation of at least one course. Once the registration certificate is obtained, then the remaining courses can be submitted for accreditation. This is the process that we have followed. This process should not be confused with the process of setting up a University in Mauritius as a "greenfield investment".
2) EIILM University is not an "obscure" University as per your editorial. To refer to the University as such is tantamount to degrading Universities in India. The University has been passed by an Act of Parliament, Eastern Institute for Integrated Learning in Management University, Sikkim Act 2006, with an acclaimed track record of ten years in tertiary education in India prior to the University being awarded the status of University in 2006.
Any university established by the Central Government or the State Government, whether public or private have equal and equivalent powers as education is a concurrent subject under the Indian constitution. Hence all degrees awarded by the universities are recognized by the entire country.
3) The establishment of a university is through an Act of Central Parliament or State legislature and is a constitutional provision. A university set up by a Central Government or State does not require any other recognition. UGC Act does not have any provision for the Registration of a university. Their mandate is primarily to give grants and funding as per Section 12 of the Act. UGC can however have inspections of these universities from time to time to assess their quality. Universities set up are autonomous bodies under the State or Central Act and do not require any other approval.
A private University not funded by UGC can function as per its charter. A recent court ruling (Amity vs UGC - 3 July 2007) by Justice B D Ahamed also confirms the above. Powers of the UGC are restricted as per Section 14 of the UGC Act which states that they may withhold funds from Universities who have taken Grants from UGC if the regulations that you make mention of in your editorial are not complied with. You may wish to know that neither EIILM University nor Ramnath Jeetah Trust have applied for funding from the UGC.
I would request that this information be passed on to the readership of l'express, to dispel any misconceptions which may have been conveyed by your two editorials.
Our vision is to strive to enable each and every household in Mauritius to have at least one university graduate. Please refrain from making such biased editorials which are not only detrimental and prejudicial to the image of the University but which also goes against our said vision.
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