The University Grants Commission (UGC) has found information about 63 unapproved outer campuses of nine private universities.

Of those, Darul Ihsan University has the highest 29 outer campuses followed by America Bangladesh University which has 17 such campuses, which the government has already ordered to shut down.

UGC Chairman Prof Abdul Mannan came up with the revelation while replying to a query of reporters at a press conference on the overall activities of private universities in the commission's auditorium. After the conference, the UGC also gave a detail list of outer campuses to the journalists.

The education ministry on July 26 ordered closure of Darul Ihsan University. It also asked all private universities to shut down illegal branch campuses in line with a High Court verdict.

Currently, there are 95 private universities in Bangladesh. Of them, 85 are running academic activities and have more  than 4.63 lakh students.

At the conference, the UGC chairman said Darul Ihsan University continued its outer campuses taking stay orders from the HC. “It also opened up numerous outer campuses,” he said.

According to the list given by the UGC, Southern University has seven outer campuses, International Islamic University of Chittagong five, and BGC Trust University two.

The other universities that have one outer campus each are Northern University, University of Information Technology and Sciences, Queens University, and University of Science and Technology-Chittagong.

A source, however, said that Northern University has shut down its campus in Rajshahi.

Apart from these outer campuses, Prof Mannan said, around 119 campuses of different universities have been shut down at different times.