By P. Jayaram

NEW DELHI - INDIA is cracking down on bogus universities and institutes that have mushroomed across the country in response to the insatiable demand for professional managers in its burgeoning working world.

Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh has asked higher education regulatory bodies such as the University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council of Technical Education and Distance Education Council to take immediate action against dubious institutions.

The move follows reports of how they try to lure potential students with advertisements bearing false promises of 'recognised' degrees and '100 per cent placements' on completion of their courses.

Raising such high hopes, and then dashing them, have resulted in serious consequences.

In one incident in the capital last month, Mr Arunesh Singh, 21, a student at the so-called Indian Institute of Management Research, attempted suicide after finding out that his school was not only an unrecognised institute, but had even faked its name.

He swallowed sleeping pills, but fortunately, his classmates, who lived with him in a rented house, saw him unconscious in the morning and rushed him to hospital.

'The degree the college had promised is not recognised. Even the college is not recognised,' he said from his hospital bed after learning that its real name was the Indian Institute of Medical Representatives.

'I am so frustrated that I do not want to live any more. My father is a primary school teacher, and I do not know how I will repay the loan of 150,000 rupees (S$4,800) he had taken for my studies.'

Virtually every industry - IT, retail, finance, telecommunication, manufacturing and bio-technology - is facing an acute shortage of skilled workers and managers as they expand, according to industry sources.

So-called management institutes and others are cashing in on the demand.

They have bombarded those looking for career options with enticing ads that say: 'Become a professional real estate adviser in 30 hours' or 'Mint money in stock market; grand pay, grand career, in less than four months'.

Indeed, one advertisement for a three-month course in 'arbitrage trading and operations' promises a six-figure salary and says admission is open to 'undergraduates, graduates, postgraduates, investors and traders'.

Many institutes claim to have links with reputable American, European and British universities, and promise 'foreign degrees'.

The institutes charge anywhere between 5,000 rupees and 1 million rupees for a management course, and have offices in swanky buildings, although classes may be held elsewhere.

The UGC has identified 20 such bogus universities and institutes on its website. They include three in the capital - the Commercial University, United Nations University and Vocational University.

Minister Singh has set a Monday deadline for the regulatory bodies for higher education to initiate action against the bogus universities and unrecognised institutes.

He had earlier issued newspaper advertisements urging students and parents to make sure that the institutions they apply to are 'recognised under relevant laws and are of quality and repute'.

Students should not 'merely go by advertisements issued in the media', said Mr Singh. He asked them to satisfy themselves 'on all counts in respect of quality and statutory recognition'.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on June 28, 2008.