Shillong, June 2: As the row over the spat between DHS (MI) Dr. A. Warr and the Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH), Shillong heats up, it has come to light that the Post Graduate (PG) program – Masters of Public Health (MPH) – being offered by IIPH in collaboration with the Martin Luther Christian University (MLCU) is allegedly in violation of the University Grants Commission (UGC) norms.
The Masters of Public Health (MPH) is a full-time two years course which commenced from August 2019.
Degree courses run by IIPH are allegedly conferred by MLCU and that MLCU being a private university cannot have Off-Campus courses.
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.”
According to IIPH, Shillong official website, the programme is being offered in collaboration with the MLCU. The program is divided in four semesters over a period of two years and will be offered from August 2020 to July 2022. It also asked application form to be downloaded from MLCU website.
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.
Sources further informed that the proposed bill for setting up of the IIPH University was returned to the health department along with queries last year.
Meanwhile, Additional Chief Secretary in-charge Education DP Wahlang said, “How can a private institute affiliate with a private university? MLCU is a unitary university and it cannot have off campus courses.”
“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. However, the IIPH is yet to fulfill all these criteria,” he added.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Government of Meghalaya and PHFI that the IIPH, Shillong (which is supposed to be a society under the Meghalaya Societies Registration Act 1983) on June 9, 2008.
Wahlang said that the MoU was to allow the PHFI to set up the IIPH in Meghalaya and that it is not to grant them permission for establishing a university.
Similarly, Director of Higher and Technical Education Ambrose Marak has informed that the department is not aware of the functioning of the IIPH since it falls under the health department.
