Background:
- After no Indian University found a place in World University Rankings in 2017, the government proposed to set up Institutions of Eminence in India.
- A notification in this regard was released by University Grants Commission (UGC) in September, 2017, which proposed to establish 20 such world class institutes (10 public and 10 private) in the country to provide quality education to Indian students.
Benefits of status:
- Autonomy: The IOEs will enjoy greater autonomy in terms of deciding their fee structure and course duration & structure. They will be exempt from approvals of government or UGC for academic collaborations with foreign institutions.
- Funding: The 10 public institutions selected, will also get Rs 1,000 crore each from the HRD Ministry to achieve world-class status. No financial assistance will be offered to the private institutions.
Eligibility for applying for Institutes of Eminence (IoT) Tag:
- The educational institutes selected, need to be a good mix of Central Universities as well as Arts, Management and Technical Institutes.
- To get the status, they should be among: (1) Top 50 in the National institution Ranking Framework in their category; (2) Top 500 in internationally recognised rankings like the Times Higher Education World University Rankings or Q.
- Following Public Institutes that are eligible to apply under Institutes of Eminence are as follows: (1) Central Universities, (2) Government-owned and controlled Deemed to be Universities, (3) institutions of National importance such as IITs, NITs, etc. and (4) State Universities set up under a law made by Legislative Assembly of a State.
Institutes selected:
- In July 2018, the HRD Ministry granted ‘Institutions of Eminence’ status to three public and three private institutes.
- Private institutes selected: Jio Institute by Reliance Foundation, Manipal Academy of Higher Education and BITS Pilani.
- Public institutes selected: IIT-Delhi, IIT-Bombay and the Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
- The move came as part of a scheme of the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry to select 20 IoEs — 10 public and 10 private — which will enjoy complete academic and administrative autonomy.
