Fees paid, courses finished, but no degrees for FDDI students

The students of Footwear Design and Development Institute are getting a very raw deal from the management

WrittenBy:Amit Bhardwaj
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It’s 42 degrees of scorching heat in Noida. A wrecked college bus stands at the entrance of Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI). According to the academic calendar, the last week of classes in the Noida campus should have begun mid-May, followed by semester exams. This year, however, there’s an uneasy silence in the institute.

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In April, students of FDDI staged a protest and damaged window panes and the college bus in the process. The institute announced a “two-month break”, after which the majority of undergraduate and postgraduate programme students left for their homes or internships. “This is a forced vacation,” said a postgraduate student.

FDDI comes under the Ministry of Commerce and is headquartered in Noida. It was established in 1986 and offered diplomas till about 2011. On July 16, 2012, FDDI signed a memorandum of understanding with Mewar University (MU), a private university in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. According to this, students, after completion of their respective courses (undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, and integrated courses), would be awarded a degree from Mewar University. Many students have since completed their courses. Some have got jobs. However, they’re all still waiting for their degrees.

At present, as per Minister of Commerce Niramala Sitharam’s written reply in Rajya Sabha, an estimated 3,609 students who are still pursuing their courses or are likely to go job-hunting are uncertain about their degree status. Why? Because the University Grants Commission (UGC) knocked down the MoU between FDDI and MU.

In a letter dated May 21, 2015, the UGC raised 10 points with the Vice-Chancellor of MU and asked the university to “immediately terminate all MoUs where degrees are being awarded by the University to students studying in regular mode” in FDDI. This is because UGC (Establishment and Maintenance of Standards in Private Universities) Regulations 2003 say that a private university cannot open franchise on or off campuses, or offer its degrees to regular students beyond its main campus.

Yet the MoU seems to have had the blessings of the Ministry of Commerce since its officials are on the governing body of FDDI. It is highly unlikely for the Ministry of Commerce to not be in the know of an MoU that involves FDDI. Were ministry officials unaware of the UGC rules and regulation? It’s worth noting that the Ministry of Commerce has previously approved FDDI collaborations that courts later struck down. In 2010, Delhi High Court had dissolved the “collaboration” between FDDI and Punjab Technical University, a Punjab-based private university. According to this tie-up, after successfully completing three years, FDDI students would get a professional diploma and a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree from Punjab Technical University.

Despite the termination of the MoU and its unsure state of affairs, FDDI admitted students for the 2015-16 session. A letter was sent to candidates just before the All India Selection Test (AIST), signed by Admission Manager Aarti Sabharwal, informing students that it had discontinued the degree courses in collaboration with the MU and that it would offer only diploma courses. Those who were still willing to sit for the entrance exam were asked “to obtain a parallel form graduation degree in distance mode.”

“I had already submitted a demand draft of Rs 25,000,” said Shubham Vidua, 19, who had applied to FDDI in 2015, for an integrated course in business management. “During the counselling I was informed that the institute will only offer diplomas.” He said that the authorities “ assured that the crisis will be resolved soon and there are 99 per cent chances that we will get degrees.” According to Vidua, things then got “worse”. With fees as high as Rs 81,000 per semester, many students can only pay these with a student loan. However, with the institute’s status in limbo, some people who had applied for loans found that these were difficult to sanction. Some were denied. For those who made it in, things are no less grim. “Our future is at stake,” said Alok Nigam, a second-year student. “Those who want to pursue higher studies in foreign universities have bleak chances of getting admission now.”

Since August 2015, it’s been a year of protest and confusion for the students. Classes have been severely affected and semester exams in January 2016 were conducted only after the High Court of Delhi ordered this in the hearing of a writ petition filed by Rajat Bhatnagar and others. However, the UGC was quick to term this semester exam invalid.

Unfazed, FDDI went ahead with plans of starting the admission process for Bachelor of Science and Master Degrees, for the session of 2016-17. It was only after the High Court of Delhi and the Supreme Court, in two different writ petitions filed by Rajesh Bhatnagar and Sandeep Priyadarshi, put a stay on the semester exams for May 2016 and admissions that FDDI put the admission process on hold. Sabharwal told Newslaundry “unless the present crisis is resolved admission process for 2016-17 session will not be resumed.”

Most of the faculty and office bearers at FDDI were either not ready to talk to the media or didn’t want to be quoted. Sandeep Bhatia, spokesperson of FDDI, insisted that the institute was being unfairly treated by UGC. “We had a collaboration with Mewar University,” he said. “The UGC never opposed the MoU until August 2015. Yes, they had sent us a letter in 2014 raising a few questions, but after our reply, no signs of disapproval were shown.” However, FDDI’s track record with collaborations isn’t the sort that inspires confidence (see Timeline).

Meanwhile, in a notice issued on January 12, 2016, FDDI started pushing students to pay up. It issued a notice that said students were required to submit “the prescribed semester fees by February 09, 2016.” Failing to do so would mark a student as a defaulter and a fine of Rs 100 would be levied per day for non-submission of fee. “This is completely unfair on institution’s part,” said Nigam. “Our careers are in limbo and they started pressuring us to submit fees.”

The students were later told that FDDI would be converted into an Institute of National Importance (INI), like Indian Institute of Technologies. One of the links on FDDI website currently says, “FDDI Draft Bill for INI” but it takes you to the Ministry of Commerce where it seems that the draft has been taken down.

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“The IGNOU chapter was dumped and then they assured us that FDDI will be converted into INI,” said Iram Hasan, a second-year student of LGAD. “And once the process is over, they will also accommodate in the new body. But now even INI seems a distant dream.”

The institute is looking for a “deemed-to-be university” status. The Delhi HC had asked the UGC to approve the proposal within a month of its submission.

Sabharwal told Newslaundry, “Everyone is trying to resolve the issue. The consultations are at initial level but we are expecting a Deemed-to-be-University within two to three months.” Other sources informed us that the proposal for the same has been submitted in the Ministry of Commerce, which will be forwarded to the MHRD and eventually to the UGC. After this, the UGC will form a committee which will inspect all FDDI campuses in India and then a final call will be taken.

Interestingly, the notice of inter-ministerial meeting of April 22, 2016 for Deemed-to-be-University says, “the new dispensation shall also cover the students of 2012-2015 batches as well.” However, Sandeep Priyadarshi, a student of FDDI-Rohtak campus who has also submitted a writ petition in the Supreme Court, asked, “How will a deemed-to-be-University accommodate students from batches before its formations. Does UGC half no such special norms. Will they pass a special legislation for us?”

Indeed UGC in its reply of the RTI application, filed by Priyadarshi, on May 27 had finally put an end to these doubts, “There is no such provision (to give degrees in retrospective effect).”

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