FDDI Strives to Get Deemed University Status

Students of the Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI) might just succeed in getting a deemed university status for the institute. The government is occupied on elevating the university to the deemed status as the students have been asking for degrees instead of diplomas.

Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister, Commerce and Industry Minister informed that discussion on the matter has been done with Human Resource Development Ministry. He also said that advice from Prime Minister’s Office is also being considered on the issue.

She also said that she want students to get a fair solution on the matter so that they don’t face difficulties in their career.

According to the minister, the HRD Ministry is going through the motions and verifying that the institute abides by the rules governing the status and other aspects that need to be considered before assigning deemed university status to any institute.

Nirmala Sitharaman is adamant to resolve the issue for the benefit of the students. In order to get a decision as soon as possible, she organized several consultation meetings with the departments, concerned ministries as well as with the students and their parents to understand their point of view.

Above 200 students of FDDI, Noida displayed vandalism and started destroying the premises and damaged two buses. The protest was made against the institute as they were not given the degrees they were promised, rather received diplomas.

A MoU was signed by FDDI Mewar University in 2012 for awarding degrees instead of diplomas. In 2015, the UGC declared that the MoU was illegal hence facing protests by the students of the institute.

University Grants Commission (UGC) made it clear that Mewar University is not eligible to award degrees to students studying at FDDI as the degree is not recognized by AICTE.

Around 3,609 students have enrolled in FDDI from 2012 to 2014.

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has also stopped awarding degrees for the courses it offers from 2012. It earlier used to grant degrees for several UG and PG programmes. 1,250 students were enrolled at IGNOU for such programmes.