Universities across the country will now have to upload all information on their websites. This follows the University Grants Commission (UGC) asking all varsities to follow the instruction, according to a top official.

The decision was taken at a recent meeting and the universities were asked to provide all information like strength of students, faculty, fees collected and courses provided, UGC Secretary Dr Jaspal Singh Sandhu told the media here today.

On the sidelines of the convocation at Avanashilingam University for Women, he said that those universities which failed to provide the details would be placed in the list of defaulters. There was also the possibility of their being denied UGC funds, he said, adding that a mechanism for this was awaiting the Centre’s nod.

Similarly, the National Academic Depository (NAD) an inter-operable digital store house of academic awards (degrees, diplomas, certificates, mark-sheets) available on 24 X 7 online mode, will be operational in a couple of months.

It will provide a system for retrieval, authentication and verification of academic awards in digital format for students, academic institutions, boards, eligibility assessment bodies and other users and verifying entities like banks, employer companies, government agencies and academic institutions.

The depository allows lodging of academic awards in a digital format, maintaining the integrity of access to the database and allows students, who will be given password, to retrieve their lodged academic awards any time, Sandhu said.

This would be an effective deterrence to fake and forged paper certificates. On complaints about the existence of fake universities and also irregularities in universities, particularly in appointments, Sandhu said that UGC was monitoring activities and coming out with a list of fake universities from time to time. Some were even blacklisted, he said.

As far as State-run universities are concerned, he felt it was for the State government to take action.

Earlier, Sandhu was conferred on Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) in recognition of his office and distinguished services for education, by University chancellor P R Krishnakumar.