Yusuf Sarfaraz finished his final exam at Kolhan University in Chaibasa, Jharkhand, in September 2021. He would not hold his actual degree certificate in his hands until 2025. In between, he moved to London, completed an entire master’s degree in photojournalism, and returned to India, still carrying nothing more than a provisional mark sheet to prove he was a graduate at all.
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For nearly three years, Mr. Sarfaraz’s parents made repeated 60-kilometre trips from Jamshedpur to the university, hoping each visit would finally yield the certificate he needed. “They went every two or three weeks,” he recalled. “Every time they were told to wait.” Every time, they returned empty-handed.
“There was no vice-chancellor to sign our degrees,” said Mr. Sarfaraz. Only after a new vice chancellor assumed office in 2025 were the pending degrees released. Mr. Sarfaraz is now a freelance photojournalist based in Jamshedpur. “I completed my master’s degree in the U.K. before I even received my bachelor’s degree from India.”
Many in administrative limbo
His story is far from unique.
Across India, thousands of students continue to face prolonged delays in receiving original degree certificates, often long after completing their examinations. While universities routinely issue provisional certificates, employers, foreign universities, and government recruitment agencies frequently require original degrees, leaving graduates caught in an administrative limbo.
Recognising the problem, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has repeatedly directed higher education institutions to award degrees within 180 days of students becoming eligible. The regulator has said delays in issuing degrees, mark sheets and certificates adversely affect students seeking employment and higher education opportunities.
A master’s before a bachelor’s
For Mr. Sarfaraz, the consequences could easily have derailed his academic ambitions.
When he secured admission to a master’s programme in London in early 2022, the university accepted his provisional documents but repeatedly sought his original degree over the following months. “I kept telling them there were administrative problems back in India,” he said. “I was lucky they understood. If they hadn’t, I might never have been able to study abroad.”
Yet another surprise awaited him after returning to India.
In 2025, Kolhan University announced that students who graduated between 2015 and 2024 would have to appear for an additional General Elective examination after discovering that many batches had completed only one of the two mandatory elective papers.
“Imagine being asked to take another examination four years after graduating,” Mr. Sarfaraz said. “For people preparing for government jobs, it became a serious concern because they were told they might not be eligible without that paper.”
Following protests by students, the university reportedly made the examination optional for many graduates. Mr. Sarfaraz chose not to appear, but worries others seeking public employment may still face uncertainty.
S.S. Parvez, an official from the Kolhan University, says, “Yes, the delay in the degree was because we did not have a Vice-Chancellor for nearly three years. The Vice-Chancellor has to issue the degrees. Three years’ degrees had to be issued together.”
Mr. Parvez points to other issues saying, “As of now UG PG examinations are also running late, but the university is trying to manage them. A three-year course is now a four-year course.
The examinations for the sixth semester, which should have finished in 2025 for the 2022 batch, were completed in 2026. Now they are trying to manage the seventh and eighth semesters and complete them this year.”
‘Now, after the 2022 batch, the problem still continues. The 2023 batch will be completed in 2027, which is late. The university is trying to manage things. Now we have a Vice-Chancellor, we have a Registrar, and we have an Examination Controller. If these people are not there, then who will run the university? That was the biggest problem in the beginning”, he says.
He says, “The biggest problem started after the New Education Policy came. The university and the government could not manage it properly. Neither of them could implement it properly or explain it properly, so the delays kept increasing.
“Some students go outside for higher studies. They suffered a lot.”, he says.
“Just wait for the convocation”
Pramiti, who requested that her real name not be identified, graduated from the Indian Institute of Crafts and Design in Jaipur and spent nearly two years trying to obtain her original degree.
She was initially able to secure admission to a master’s programme with a provisional certificate, but only after repeated requests to the institute. “My university kept asking when I would submit the original degree,” she said. “Every semester I would tell them it would come in another two or three months.”
She frequently travelled to Jaipur to meet friends, but each visit also became another attempt to retrieve her degree.
“Every time they would tell me the convocation is about to happen. Just wait.” She estimates sending between 10 and 20 emails over two years, many of which went unanswered.
When she visited the campus shortly before completing her master’s degree, she explained that her university would not issue her postgraduate qualification until she submitted her undergraduate degree. “They simply told me to write another email,” she said.
Even after convocation, university officials refused to hand over the certificate to a friend attending on her behalf, insisting she collect it personally from campus. The degree was eventually dispatched by Speed Post after further requests.
“If I had chosen to pursue my master’s in Europe instead of India, I probably wouldn’t have been able to go,” she said. “Many universities abroad require the original degree.”
Ajaai K. Johri, Head (Academic Administration), Indian Institute of Crafts & Design, says, “All examinations and academic processes conducted by the Institute are completed within the stipulated timelines. However, the issuance of degree certificates lies entirely within the purview of Vishvakarma Skills University, Jaipur, which is the degree-awarding body for IICD.”
When paperwork costs a semester
For 22-year-old Farkhanda, bureaucratic delays affected not only her certificate but also her academic calendar.
After migrating from the Islamic University of Science and Technology to the University of Kashmir, she expected the transfer process to be completed within weeks. Instead, it stretched for nearly seven months. “Every office would tell me the file was under process,” she said. “One day they would say another signature was needed. The next day someone wasn’t available.”
Because the migration remained incomplete, she was unable to sit for any of her third-semester examinations. She eventually had to prepare simultaneously for both her third- and fifth-semester papers, studying 12 subjects instead of six.
“I had anxiety,” she said. “I couldn’t sleep properly because I thought I would lose an entire academic year.”
Her family encouraged her to continue studying despite the uncertainty. “They told me to focus on passing even if my grades suffered.”
Ms. Farkhanda ultimately cleared both semesters. “If they had processed my migration on time, none of this would have happened,” she said. “Students shouldn’t suffer because officials delay files.”
A nationwide administrative problem
Education experts say such cases reflect deeper administrative weaknesses across many universities rather than isolated lapses.
Vacant leadership positions, pending approvals, manual verification systems, delayed convocations, staff shortages and poor coordination between affiliated colleges and universities frequently contribute to delays in issuing degree certificates.
Recognising the problem, the UGC amended its regulations to require universities to award degrees within 180 days of students becoming eligible. The commission has repeatedly reminded institutions that timely declaration of results and prompt issuance of degrees are essential to protect students seeking jobs, scholarships and admissions to higher studies.
Despite these directives, delays continue to surface across states. Students at several universities have recently complained of pending degree certificates affecting admissions, government recruitment and overseas applications, even as institutions increasingly move towards digital certificates and online verification systems.
For many graduates, however, digitisation has not yet translated into faster access to official documents.
Degrees earned, but not delivered
For students waiting to begin careers or pursue higher education, the delay is not merely administrative—it can shape life-changing opportunities.
Many spend months or years relying on provisional certificates, making repeated visits to university offices, sending unanswered emails and postponing applications because a single document remains unavailable.
For Mr. Sarfaraz, the experience still feels surreal.
“I got my master’s degree before my bachelor’s degree,” he said with a laugh.
Then he paused.
“It sounds funny now. But at that time, it was frightening because my entire future depended on a piece of paper that should have been issued years earlier.”
(Danish Pandit is a journalist and a documentary filmmaker based in Delhi. Hanan Zaffar is a journalist covering tech environment and AI. He is based in New Delhi.)
