According to Ministry of Education statistics, 140 private universities have been established across the country in the last five years, with Gujarat having the most, followed by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. According to PTI data, 28 private universities have been established in Gujarat over the last five years, while 15 universities have been established in Maharashtra.

During the period, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka welcomed 14 and 10 universities, respectively.

"Private University is established by an Act passed by the concerned state legislature and a Notification issued by the concerned state government," said a senior education ministry official.

"The name of a private university is included in the list of universities by the University Grants Commission (UGC) as per Section 2(f) of the UGC Act, 1956, on receipt of the copies of the Act and notification from the university," he said.

According to the official, such private universities are authorised to award general degree programmes without the specific approval of the UGC.

"However, the approvals for running professional and medical programmes are given by the respective regulatory or statutory bodies and such programmes are governed by the norms of respective bodies such as All Indian Council for Technical Education, National Medical Commission, and Dental Council of India," he went on to say.

In the last five years, Chhattisgarh has seen the establishment of seven private universities, while Jharkhand and Rajasthan have seen the establishment of six universities each.