Stamping its approval on Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s flagship project, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has added the Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Punjab Sports University, Patiala, to the list of universities established as as per section 2 (f) of UGC Act, 1956.The UGC has also given the university permission to award degree by conducting courses through its own departments, constituent colleges or through its affiliated colleges, in regular mode with the approval of concerned statutory bodies/councils, wherever it is required.Disclosing this here today a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said that the university has been included in the list of universities. maintained by the UGC on its website www.ugc.ac.in.This has been communicated to the state government through a UGC communiqué, which says the University shall operate only within the territorial jurisdiction allotted to it under its Act and in no case beyond the territory of the State of its location. The University would not start any off-campus centre beyond the territorial jurisdiction as provided in the Act, as per the communique, which further mandates it to follow all the UGC Regulations. The University would be required to ensure that no programmes is offered through franchising arrangement with private institutions and no study centre(s) is opened through franchises by the University.In case the university had already started any off-campus/study centre or centre operating through franchises outside the state, the same would be closed immediately, said the spokesperson.It has also been mandated that no distance education programme shall be started without the prior approval of UGC. The programmes of M.Phil/Ph.D can be conducted as per the provisions of UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Awards of M.Phil/Ph.D. Degrees) Regulations, 2016.It may be recalled that Captain Amarinder Singh had announced the decision to set up this university in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in his speech on June 19, 2017. Subsequently, a steering committee had been set up under the chairmanship of Olympian and Member International Olympic Committee Randhir Singh to finalise the modalities to establish this sports educational institute of international eminence.The Punjab Cabinet, on June 6, 2019, approved the Punjab Sports University Ordinance-2019, paving the way for the establishment of the university. Subsequently, a notification in this regard was issued on July 22, and the academic session has commenced from September 1, 2019, as decided by the steering committee in its meeting presided over by Captain Amarinder Singh last month.The university has been set up to promote education in the areas of sports sciences, sports technology, sports management and sports coaching. It will focus on education, training and research in areas related to sports based on high standard infrastructure, besides offering professional and academic leadership to other institutions in the field of physical education and sports sciences.The university will also serve as a Centre of excellence for the elite and other talented sportspersons of all sports and innovations to carry out, endorse and propagate research. It would also generate capabilities for the development of knowledge skills and competencies at various levels in the field of sports technology and high-performance training for all sports and games.