The higher and technical education regulators on Friday issued a public notice that suggested private education technology (ed-tech) companies were offering online PhD programmes in violation of rules and cautioned students against seeking admission to such courses.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) issued the public notice to reiterate the rule that online PhD programmes are not recognised in India.

“Students and public at large are hereby advised not to be misled by advertisements for online PhD programmes offered by EduTech companies in collaboration with Foreign Educational Institutes. Such online PhD programmes are not recognised by UGC,” the notice said.

The notice did not mention the names of the firms that had issued the misleading ads and if any complaint had been filed against such companies either by the UGC or the AICTE. PhD programmes are allowed only in the face-to-face mode. Open universities that run courses through distance or correspondence mode have been debarred from offering PhD in such a format.

“In order to maintain the standards for the award of PhD degrees, the UGC has notified UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of MPhil/ PhD Degrees) Regulations 2016. It is mandatory, for all Indian Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) to follow UGC Regulations and its amendments for awarding PhD degrees,” Friday’s notice said.

“Aspiring students and public at large are requested to verify the authenticity of PhD programmes as per UGC Regulations 2016 before taking admission,” it added.

A former vice-chancellor of a central university said students pursuing online PhD ran the risk of not getting any government jobs or the opportunity of further studies.

“Since the UGC is not recognising online PhD, no university or college will recognise it. With online PhD degrees, students will not get an opportunity in universities and colleges,” he said.