The university to which all private engineering colleges in Bengal are affiliated has warned the institutions against providing “misleading information” in advertisements.

The notice — issued by Swapan Kumar Maity, the inspector of colleges at the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, ahead of the admission season — asks the colleges not to mention in the advertisements that the attendance rule would be relaxed for students who also work.

The notice, issued on May 28, reads: “The academic session will commence from July. The colleges are requested to debar themselves from giving the misleading information like relaxation in attendance for working professionals, other facilities…. These misleading information to the admission seekers are not expected and desirable on the part of affiliated colleges as it is detrimental to the academic and administrative environment of this university.”

Saikat Maitra, the vice-chancellor of the university, said the colleges were supposed to categorically list the facilities available on campus.

“They must clearly state whether they are going to provide hostels or a medical unit, something that is intended for common use.... The use of the term ‘other facilities’ is misleading. We were forced to issue the notice after scanning some recent advertisements,” Maitra told Metro.

Another official of the university said a few colleges were offering some “unauthorised benefits” under the guise of “other facilities”.

“Some BTech aspirants have complained that when they asked a few colleges about ‘other facilities’, they were assured of overly liberal assessment in internal exams,” the official said.

“Some institutions made tall claims about 100 per cent placements.”

Another official said the colleges were resorting to such “malpractices” to draw as many students as possible. Private engineering colleges have been struggling with a large number of vacant seats over the past few years.

Taranjit Singh, the president of the Association of Professional Academic Institutions, a body that represents the self-financed engineering colleges in Bengal, said: “One or two colleges might have given this kind of advertisement. I will be able to comment on the notice after going through it.”

Singh is vice-chairperson of the JIS group, which runs a number of self-financed engineering colleges.

As for working professionals attending classes, VC Maitra said: “If such an individual wants to pursue BTech, he or she has to either take study leave or attend classes along with office.”

The notice asserts that a students has to attend at least 75 per cent of the classes to write the university exams. “There is no question of relaxation of attendance for working professionals in the university regulations,” the notice states.