Shillong, June 4: Meghalaya government is working towards a proposal of upgrading the Indian Institute Public Health (IIPH), Shillong, into a full-fledged university. This information comes after it came to light that the institute is running a post graduate programme in collaboration with the Martin Luther Christian University (MLCU), Shillong.
However, Additional Chief Secretary in-charge Education, DP Wahlang, had on Thursday informed that MLCU being a private university cannot have off-campus courses nor can it affiliate any institute.
He had further shared that the IIPH has to first declare itself as a college and has to get itself affiliated to NEHU besides obtaining a No-objection certificate from the education department, which the institute hasn’t done yet.
Therefore, the degree course being offered by IIPH has come under public scrutiny as the University Grants Commission (UGC) also doesn’t allow a private university to grant degrees on affiliation basis, much less for an institute that it yet to get a NOC for the same from the concerned department.
UGC websites clearly states that: “It is also informed that Private Universities cannot affiliate an institution/college. They cannot establish off campus centre(s) beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the concerned State. However, they can establish off-campus centre(s) within the concerned State after their existence of five years and with the prior approval of the University Grants Commission. So far, UGC has not approved any off campus centre(s) of any Private University.”
An interim arrangement
However, a well placed source in the government who is in the know-how of the affairs of IIPH informed that the institute has gotten around the UGC provisions by having an arrangement with MLCU which is similar to what NEIGRIHMS has with NEHU for medical degrees when it started its degree programmes.
The source said the status of a university is needed to grant degrees, thus the current arrangement between IIPH with MLCU is an interim one.
It was also informed that the state government is in the process of upgrading the IIPHS into a university, and a separate society has been set up for working on this. The society is headed by Principal Secretary of Health with board members including some government officials such as DHS(MI) and renowned public health experts like Srinath Reddy and medical doctors like Dr Rangad.
The proposal for setting up of this public health university on the lines of IIPH Gandhinagar is under active consideration of the state government.
During this interim period, the Master’s degree is not granted by IIPHS but by MLCU, and the students are admitted and registered with MLCU.
The source further stressed that the students are taught by faculty from both MLCU and IIPHS whereby qualified IIPHS staff are shown as adjunct faculty in the MLCU prospectus, and that adjunct faculty are permitted by UGC regulations.
The source also claimed that these academic collaborative arrangements are permitted by UGC, the MLCU Act and by resolution of the IIPHS Society, and asserted that IIPHS is not affiliated to MLCU nor is it a centre.
About the MPH
The Masters of Public Health (MPH) offered by IIPH is a full-time two years course which commenced from August 2019. IIPH brochure for 2022-22 states that the MPH covers the general areas of the discipline of public health such as epidemiology, biostatistics, demography, public health nutrition, environment & occupational health, public health management, behavioural and social sciences, health promotion, health economics, health systems and health policy. In addition, the student may choose from electives such as: Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A), advanced epidemiology and communicable diseases.
The Indian Institute Public Health (IIPH), Shillong, was established by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) in collaboration with the Government of Meghalaya (GoM). The Institute aims to redress the limited institutional and systems capacity in public health in the northeast region of India.
Interestingly, IIPH website also claims that the institute is also offering PhD courses.
NEIGRIHMS – NEHU setup vs IIPS-MLCU set-up
However, one major difference between the NEIGRIHMS – NEHU setup in contrast to the IIPS-MLCU arrangement is that NEHU is a Central University whereas MLCU is a private one whereby NEHU is empowered to grant affiliations whereas MLCU is not. Other point of note is that all medical courses in India need to be approved by the National Medical Commission (NMC), earlier called Medical Council of India (MCI), which was the case in NEIGRIHMS – NEHU set-up, however, there is lack of clarity on the same in the IIPS-MLCU set-up.
Also, after getting affiliated to NEHU in 2012, NEIGRIHMS had received approval for its courses by the MCI in 2013, which again isn’t clear in the IIPH-MLCU case.
Further, despite UGC being very specific that a private university ‘cannot affiliate’ an institute or college, MLCU has gone ahead and ‘accredited’ 14 institutions among which is Indian Institute of Public Health, Shillong.
Similarly, IIPH has not obtained any NOC to start the MPH course, which has been explicitly mentioned by the Additional Chief Secretary DP Wahlang, and it apparently hasn’t taken NOC from the UGC as well. This also puts the course in apparent violation of the UGC norms.
Interestingly, in 2018, the UGC wrote to MLCU reminding that the UGC has not granted the university any approval to open off campus/study centres.
