In the fast-evolving landscape of higher education, collaborations and partnerships with industries, research organizations, and global institutions are supposed to be a bridge between academia and real-world opportunities.
But in India, this noble intention has been hijacked by a Fake MOUs in Indian Colleges where numbers matter more than outcomes.
Our six-month-long research has unearthed shocking insights into the MOU ecosystem in India:
India signs approximately 7,00,000 MOUs annually.98.5% of these MOUs are inactive or exist only on paper.
The total estimated value of these MOUs is ₹1,050 crores, yet only ₹150 crores are realized in actual benefits to colleges and students.
The rest—₹900 crores worth of MOUs—serve no real purpose other than securing marks in accreditation (NAAC, NBA) and rankings (NIRF).
The numbers are staggering, but the bigger question is: Who is really benefiting from this MOU inflation?
Fake MOU in Indian Colleges – A Business of Fake Promises?
MOUs, in their ideal form, are meant to enhance student learning, facilitate industry-academic collaboration, and bring real-world exposure to students.
However, what is happening today is a rampant commercialization where:
Institutions sign multiple MOUs just to increase their accreditation scores.
Most of these MOUs never materialize into real partnerships, internships, or knowledge-sharing programs.
The same companies/organizations sign MOUs with multiple institutions without any actual follow-up work.
Many MOUs are ‘recycled’ across different institutes, using the same template with no customization or real commitment.
In the rat race for NAAC, NBA, and NIRF scores, colleges and universities have turned a meaningful collaboration tool into a number-boosting gimmick.
The Modus Operandi: How the MOU Scam Works in Colleges
The MOU business has become a well-oiled machine, creating an underground economy worth ₹630 crores annually that is not accounted for in college books.
Here’s how the scam operates:
Third-Party Brokers & MOU Dealers: Many colleges do not even sign their own MOUs—they purchase them from third-party brokers who provide bulk MOUs from unknown or shady organizations. These brokers charge lakhs per package and offer “ready-made” MOUs that colleges can submit during NAAC/NBA evaluations. Often, the same dummy company signs MOUs with hundreds of institutions, copy-pasting the same text across all agreements.
Industry Partners Taking Advantage: Many private companies see this as a business opportunity rather than a way to contribute to education. Companies sign MOUs with multiple colleges with no intention of fulfilling promises. These MOUs allow them to list multiple institutions in their portfolio as "partners," making them look more credible to investors. Some firms charge hefty fees from colleges to issue an MOU and then disappear, providing no internships, no faculty training, and no research collaborations.
In some cases, industries use MOUs as a backdoor to access government subsidies meant for academic-industry partnerships without actually doing any work.
Faculty & Management Corruption: Faculty and top management collaborate with brokers and fake industries to create false partnerships in exchange for commissions or under-the-table deals. Many MOUs are signed without the knowledge of students or faculty members, existing only as paperwork for NAAC/NBA inspections. In some universities, deans and administrators get kickbacks for signing high-value MOUs that never materialize into action. Some faculty members set up fake consultancy firms that exist solely to sign MOUs with their own institutions, creating an illusion of industry-academia collaboration.
This leads to a parallel revenue system, where institutions generate money off-book, free from audits or tax regulations.
Ranking & Accreditation Manipulation: NAAC, NBA, and NIRF award high marks for industry collaborations, creating a monetary incentive for institutions to inflate their MOU count. Universities that fake MOUs climb the rankings, attracting more students and funding despite not offering any real advantages to learners. Institutions that refuse to play the MOU game fall behind, despite having better academic quality and research initiatives.
In essence, NAAC and NIRF are unintentionally fuelling this scam, rewarding quantity over quality in higher education.
How Students Are Suffering from Fake MOUs
No Real Internships or Placements – Colleges boast of MOUs with top companies, but students rarely get internship or job opportunities from these partnerships.
No Research or Knowledge Transfer – MOUs between universities should result in joint research, faculty exchange programs, and resource sharing, but very few of these partnerships lead to actual knowledge-sharing.
No Access to Industry Leaders – Despite grand announcements, most students never interact with the supposed industry partners mentioned in MOUs.
Instead of empowering students with real-world exposure, colleges are using MOUs as publicity stunts, prioritizing media optics over meaningful collaboration.
Real-Life Examples
While institutions flood their accreditation reports with hundreds of MOUs, the real question remains: Are students actually benefitting?
The unfortunate answer is no.
Here’s how the MOU scam is actively harming students instead of providing the career advantages they deserve.
1. Fake MOUs for Internships: The Case of a Computer Science Student in Delhi
Rahul Kumar (Name Changed), a final-year B.Tech student in Delhi, was excited when his college announced that it had signed an MOU with a well-known IT company for internships.
He applied for the internship, believing it would help him gain real-world experience. But when he contacted the company, they had no idea about the MOU.
After investigating further, he found out that his college had signed the agreement just for accreditation purposes—there was never any plan to provide internships.
Impact: Rahul wasted months waiting for an internship that never existed. He eventually had to pay a private training institute for an internship, costing him ₹40,000 out of his pocket. His placement was affected because he had no relevant experience.
Lesson: Colleges fake industry tie-ups to look good in rankings, while students are left struggling for real internships that actually enhance their employability.
2. Research MOUs That Don’t Exist: The Frustration of a PhD Scholar in Pune
Meera Joshi (Name Changed), a PhD research scholar in Pune, was thrilled when her university signed an MOU with a US-based university for joint research projects.
She wanted to collaborate on AI-based medical diagnosis and reached out to the research team of the foreign university.
The response? They had never even heard of the MOU.
When she inquired at her university, she was told that it was “just an understanding” and not a real agreement—meaning, no funding, no faculty exchange, and no collaboration.
Impact: Meera’s research project stalled for months, as she had no international guidance.
She lost an opportunity to publish with a global research team, which would have improved her academic profile. The fake MOU had no value in real-world academia, and she had to start looking for independent collaborations on her own.
Lesson: Many universities sign international MOUs only for show, with no actual research collaborations in place. Students suffer because they expect opportunities that never materialize.
3. The Illusion of Industry Collaboration: An Engineering College’s Lie in Tamil Nadu
In 2022, an engineering college in Tamil Nadu boasted about its 50+ MOUs with leading automobile and mechanical engineering firms.
The placement brochures highlighted these MOUs as proof of strong industry connections.
But when final-year students applied for jobs in these companies, they were told these MOUs had no hiring commitments—they were just paper agreements.
Impact: The students had no direct recruitment pipeline, even though they were led to believe otherwise. They wasted time applying to companies that had no tie-up for hiring. Some students even chose this college based on its so-called industry partnerships, only to realize they had been misled.
Lesson: Institutions use MOUs to attract admissions and boost placement reports, but the reality is that most of these partnerships don’t offer actual job placements.
4. Faculty Exchange MOU That Never Happened: A Business School’s False Promise in Bangalore
A prestigious business school in Bangalore announced an MOU with an Ivy League university, claiming they would start a faculty exchange program.
Students were told they would get guest lectures from top global professors and even have an option to spend a semester abroad.
But over the next two years, no professor ever visited, and no exchange program was initiated.
When students raised concerns, they were told, “It will happen next year.” That never happened.
Impact: Students had false expectations about global exposure. The college used the fake MOU to increase fees, marketing itself as a globally connected B-school. The students missed out on real networking opportunities, which could have helped them in global careers.
Lesson: Colleges create fake global collaborations to attract high-paying students, while the reality remains a broken promise.
The Real Cost of Fake MOUs in Education
When MOUs are used as a numbers game instead of actual partnerships, the consequences for students are severe:
Lost Opportunities: Students expect access to internships, jobs, and research programs that never materialize.
Financial Losses: Many students pay for private training, international programs, or internships because the promised opportunities through MOUs do not exist.
Career Damage: The false sense of industry collaboration leads students to believe they have an edge, only to realize during placements that they lack real experience.
False Hope for Higher Studies: Many students apply for international exchange programs that colleges promise through MOUs—only to be rejected because the partnerships don’t exist in reality.
So, Who is Really Benefiting from the MOU Scam?
Not the students. They get nothing but broken promises.
Not the faculty. Many of them are unaware of these fake MOUs.
Only the institutions and ranking bodies.
Colleges get higher accreditation scores and rankings, while NAAC, NBA, and NIRF continue to reward them for quantity, not quality.
What Needs to Change?
Accreditation bodies should shift from counting MOUs to evaluating their impact.
Institutes must be transparent about MOUs and actively involve students.
Industry collaborations should be monitored and reported for actual outcomes.
Students should demand access to internship and research opportunities promised under MOUs.
If education is meant to be a bridge between academia and real-world success, then we must dismantle the hollow MOU business and push for real, accountable partnerships that genuinely benefit students.
Accreditation & Ranking Bodies: Are They Enabling This?
The unfortunate reality is that accreditation and ranking bodies (NAAC, NBA, NIRF) have created an environment where numbers matter more than quality. Institutions that fabricate MOUs and partnerships get rewarded with higher scores, while those genuinely trying to build collaborations struggle in the ranking game.
Shouldn’t NAAC and NBA start be verifying the actual impact of MOUs instead of merely counting them?
If MOUs are to be included in accreditation and rankings, the process should involve:
Mandatory impact reports – Every institution should provide proof of internships, research collaborations, or workshops resulting from their MOUs.
Student feedback & transparency – Students should have access to the list of active MOUs, their benefits, and participation records.
Auditing & penalty for fake MOUs – Institutes that repeatedly sign ‘inactive’ MOUs should be penalized for misrepresentation.
Without reforms, MOUs will continue to be a paper-pushing game that serves no one except ranking manipulators and accreditation seekers.
What Needs to Change?
Accreditation bodies should shift from counting MOUs to evaluating their impact.
Institutes must be transparent about MOUs and actively involve students.
Industry collaborations should be monitored and reported for actual outcomes.
Students should demand access to internship and research opportunities promised under MOUs.
If education is meant to be a bridge between academia and real-world success, then we must dismantle the hollow MOU business and push for real, accountable partnerships that genuinely benefit students.
Let’s raise our voices against this fraudulent practice and demand transparency, accountability, and real impact in higher education!
Have you personally benefited from an MOU signed by your college? Or was it just another empty announcement? Let’s discuss in the comments!
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