Students of the Veeranaari Chakali Ilamma Women’s University in Hyderabad, popularly known as the Koti Women’s College have staged a protest on the college’s campus today, November 30, demanding that the college be recognised as a university by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

Established as the Osmania University College for Women in 1924, the college was rechristened to “Telangana Mahila Vishwavidyalaya” under the former Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) government in 2022 and upgraded to a women’s State University.

After coming to power in 2023, the current Indian National Congress (INC) government under Chief Minister Revanth Reddy renamed the university as Veeranaari Chakali Ilamma Women’s University in September 2024, after the legendary freedom fighter from the Telangana Armed Struggle.

However, without a University Act passed, Koti Women’s College remains unrecognised as a State University by the UGC, leading to confusion among the outgoing students.

“Our identity cards carry the name Telangana Mahila Vidyalaya, but the name on the website and the campus is Veeranaari Chakali Ilamma Women’s University. What name would our graduation certificates carry?” questions a third-year student from the university, who requested to stay anonymous.

While confusion about the name prevails, students are worried about whether their degrees would be valid at all, given the university has yet to receive approval from the UGC as a state university.

“Currently, we are unable to see our university with the new name on the DOST (Degree Online Services, Telangana) portal. We don’t know if our degrees would be considered as valid. It is a very confusing situation for us,” the student laments.

The student adds that the Telangana State Legislative Assembly must pass an Act establishing the Koti Women’s College as a state university, and only then would it be recognised by the UGC.

The student says, “We tried all methods to bring this issue to the state government’s notice, but they are not acting on it. Hence, we had to stage a protest today.”

In response to the protest, the Telangana Police closed the gates of the campus, preventing the protests from spilling outside the campus.

However, the Vice-Chancellor of the Koti Women’s College, Prof Surya Dhananjay addressed the protesting students, assuring them that the issue would be discussed in the upcoming Winter Session of the Telangana State Legislative Assembly, which is scheduled to begin on December 9, informed the student.

“The VC claimed that she was given the assurance by the State Principal Secretary of Education, that the Legislative Assembly would move to discuss our issues in the upcoming Assembly Session. We were also promised an audience with Chief Minister Revanth Reddy so that we can convey our demand to him,” she adds.

On the occasion of the government’s failure to resolve this issue, the students said that they would stage another agitation — this time, along with their parents, the student says.

Previously, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President and Member of Parliament, Hyderabad, Asaduddin Owaisi wrote to the Telangana Chief Minister’s Office on November 3, demanding UGC recognition for Koti Women’s College.