IASE Sardarshahr and the Study-Centre Question:
What UGC's Distance Education Bureau Put on Record

Background: why this RTI was filed

Distance-mode MBA degrees issued in the late 2000s still turn up in job applications and background checks. Where such a degree carries the name of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Education (IASE), Sardarshahr, Rajasthan, a basic question arises: was the programme, and the centre that delivered it, actually approved?

The RTI appeal dated 24.01.2026 put that question to the regulator directly. It asked whether IASE was approved to offer MBA (Finance) through distance education during 2007–2009, whether it could run study centres or admission centres outside its headquarters, whether Rajiv Gandhi College of Management, Udupi (Karnataka) was ever an authorised study centre of IASE, and what UGC, DEB or DEC had issued on unauthorised distance education centres.

What the document says

The reply does not answer question by question. It groups several questions and gives one combined answer, plus a set of enclosures that runs to 20 pages in total.

The central part is a short table. UGC-DEB lists IASE's recognition as post facto recognition till 2005 and provisional recognition for 2007-08. A third row reads: “No recognition was granted has been granted to it either by DEC or UGC to offer any programme through distance mode.” The two enclosed Distance Education Council letters add detail. The letter of 29.08.2007 notes that IASE had not been offering education through distance mode since 2005 and asks for a fresh application for recognition from June–July 2008. The letter of 03.09.2007 grants provisional recognition for one year from its date of issue.

On study centres, the reply is direct. It cites UGC's Notice F.6-9/2004 (CPP-I) of 9 August 2005, which names IASE and states that it “has not been permitted to affiliate any College/Institute” and has not been allowed to conduct any course through a Distance Education Study Centre. The reply refers to this notice as F. 6-9/2024; the enclosed copy is numbered F.6-9/2004.

Key findings

“Franchising of Study Centres is not allowed by the erstwhile DEC or UGC and any such centre even within territorial jurisdiction will not be valid.”

— UGC Distance Education Bureau, RTI reply F.No. 1-1046/2026(RIA)/175607

The reply also sets IASE's case against the wider rules. It quotes UGC's circular directing universities to stop franchising degree education through private agencies, the 2003 Joint Committee instruction limiting distance education to the main campus neighbourhood or the State, and the Supreme Court's 2005 judgment in Prof. Yashpal & Anr vs State of Chhattisgarh & Ors. It adds that a Deemed to be University can operate only within its headquarters and MoE-approved campuses, and that no university may offer technical and professional programmes, including M.Phil and Ph.D., through distance mode.

On Rajiv Gandhi College of Management, Udupi, the reply does not name the college in its text. The third row of the recognition table, which sits alongside the Udupi question, states that no recognition was granted to “it” by DEC or UGC to offer any programme through distance mode, without spelling out which institution is meant. The reply also says, in general terms, that UGC has not accorded recognition to the study centre of any university, deemed university or institution.

What employers and students should know

Employers reviewing a distance-mode degree issued in IASE's name should check two things: the academic year of study against the recognition periods UGC-DEB lists, and where the programme was delivered. The reply states that verification of any individual degree rests with the issuing institution, so direct verification with IASE remains necessary.

Students and graduates who studied through a centre away from Sardarshahr should keep their admission records, fee receipts and correspondence. The 2005 UGC notice advises students to keep these rules in mind while seeking admission to deemed universities.