UGC Suggests Eminence Tag to DU; AMU, Ashoka Fail to Make the Cut

Last year, the government had granted the IoE status to IIT-Delhi, IIT-Bombay and IISc in the public sector.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has recommended granting of Institution of Eminence (IoE) status to Delhi University, Hyderabad University, BHU, and IIT Madras and Kharagpur.

While the recommendation for Jadhavpur University in Kolkata and Anna University in Chennai has been subjected to consultation with the respective state governments, six others have been recommended for issue of Letter of Intent (LoI) for the eminence status.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the UGC where the report of the Empowered Expert Committee (EEC) was considered.

"Among the institutions which have been recommended for granting of IoE status are DU, BHU, Hyderabad University, and IIT Madras and Kharagpur. Jadavpur University and Anna University can be considered for issue of the IoE status only after the respective state governments come out with an official communication allocating their share of the funds up to 50 percent," a senior HRD Ministry official said.

"The private institutions which have made the cut for issuing of LoI include Amrita Vidyapeetham, VIT Vellore, Jamia Hamdard, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Shiv Nadar University and OP Jindal University. In the greenfield category (institutions which are yet to be established) Bharti institute of Satya Bharti foundation has been recommended," the official added.

Among the universities that have failed to make the cut are Aligarh Muslim University, Ashoka University, Azim Premji University, Tezpur University in Assam, Punjab University, Andhra University and Indian Institute of Public Health in Gandhinagar.

"The expert committed had shortlisted 15 public institutions and as many private institutions for eminence status. As the scheme has only provided for 10 institutions in each category, the UGC was of the opinion that since the thrust of the scheme is to prepare institutions for the global rankings, no existing institution which has not figured in any of the global or national rankings shall be recommended for the IoE status. Wherever there was a tie, UGC used the QS-2019 India Rankings as a tie-breaker," the official said.

IIT Delhi, BITS Pilani Were Granted IoE Status Last Year

"It was also decided that only after exhausting the above criterion, if any slot remains vacant, consideration shall be given to yet-to-be-established institutions' proposals. Greenfield institutions would get three-year period to establish and operationalise the institution, and thereafter, EEC will consider giving IoE status to such institutions," the official added.

The move is part of a scheme of the HRD Ministry announced last year to select 20 IoEs – 10 public and 10 private – that will enjoy complete academic and administrative autonomy.

Last year, the government had granted the IoE status to IIT-Delhi, IIT-Bombay and the Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in the public sector, and Manipal Academy of Higher Education and BITS Pilani in the private sector, while the Jio Institute by Reliance Foundation was given the tag in greenfield category.

While government will provide funding to public institutions with IoE tag, in case of the private institutions proposed as IoE, there will be no financial support, but they will be entitled for more autonomy as a special category deemed university.