Rejoinder, our reply
In response to a report titled 'Illegal branches of university bid to attract admission seekers despite ban' published by The Daily Star on September 20, three educational institutes claimed that the news has affected their reputation.
In a statement, International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC) said it has only one outer campus in Dhaka with the official approval of education ministry.
“With due respect to the government's decision to close down outer campuses, the IIUC has appealed for reconsideration of their decision,” the statement of IIUC said.
Another statement, from Northern University, Bangladesh, claimed there is no ban on the Northern University Bangladesh on having outer campuses.
“Outer campuses of this university have been permitted by the honourable supreme court to continue their normal activities,” the Northern University statement stated.
In a separate statement, Daffodil Institute of IT (DIIT) said The Daily Star report which stated that DIIT was in a list of 56 banned branches of foreign universities is very much unfortunate for the institute.
The DIIT has sent a legal notice to the University Grants Commission (UGC) demanding justice and seeking to have its name removed from the UGC list of 56 banned branches of foreign universities, said a statement signed by the institute's executive director.
OUR REPLY
The main focus point of The Daily Star report was that UGC has declared illegal 56 branches of foreign universities in the country and all outer campuses of some private universities. The report also dealt with the fact that some of these branches woo HSC passed students for admission through false promises in their advertisements.
The above three institutes did not disagree with this point.
UGC and education ministry on August last year decided to close down all approved and unapproved outer campuses established by different private universities due to allegations of 'selling' certificates and imparting low quality education.
Following the decision UGC declared around 100 outer campuses of different private universities illegal. These included outer campuses of Northern University and International Islamic University Chittagong.
The Daily Star published the two lists -- banned branches of foreign university and banned outer campuses of private universities -- quoting the UGC. The Daily Star did not prepare the lists.
UGC provided the lists mentioned in the report.
The sending of a legal notice by DIIT to UGC does not prove that it is a legal institute.
The Daily Star has no intention to tarnish the reputation of any legal institution but always writes against irregularities, as demonstrated in this report. So, we stand by our report.
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