Fraud Campus Broke Rules in Both Mauritius and India

It has been revealed that the institute, in existence in Mauritius since 2007, has flouted both Indian and Mauritian laws even as hundreds of students face an uncertain future as far as higher education is concerned. Already, Delhi University and Kurukshetra University have denied admission in post-graduate courses to students who passed out from EIILM's Mauritius campus.

The University Grants Commission had clearly told EIILM, a private university from Sikkim, that its off-shore campus in Mauritius was illegal and needed to be closed immediately. Last month, the Mauritian parliament was informed by education minister Rajesh Jeetah that even the degree being given to students "was an Indian degree coming from the Indian counterpart". Jeetah's brother Sunil is the sole owner of EIILM's campus in Mauritius.

HRD ministry officials in India expressed shock. "Even institutes that have set up off-shore campus legally are not allowed to give Indian degree. Indian degree is banned on foreign soil. Regulation is very clear in this regard," a senior ministry official said.

However, awarding Indian degrees has cleared another complication. During the recent visit of HRD minister MM Pallam Raju to Mauritius, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Association of Indian Universities and the Tertiary Education Commission of Mauritius. The MoU provides for mutual recognition of higher education qualification by respective higher education awarding bodies.

A senior official of the Tertiary Education Commission said, "The MoU was signed with the hope that AIU will be able to recognize EIILM degrees. But TEC itself did not know that the degree given out is Indian." HRD ministry officials said AIU will not be able to recognize degrees given by EIILM's off-shore campus for the simple reason that the campus itself was illegal.

Opposition leaders in Mauritius are also asking why there was a need to sign an MoU with AIU when such a clause already exists between the TEC and UGC in clause 10 of the prevailing agreement in 2007. However, this clause mysteriously disappeared when the agreement was renewed in 2010. It is important to note that EIILM's foreign campus came up in 2007.