Six colleges set to get Institutes of Excellence status, incentives

NEW DELHI: The University Grants Commission (UGC) is likely to take up the proposal of approving on Monday the names of six educational institutes that will be designated Institutes of Excellence (IoEs), entitling them to special incentives.

The move is part of a scheme of the human resource development (HRD) ministry to select 20 IoEs — 10 public institutions and 10 private — that will enjoy complete academic and administrative autonomy. The 10 government ones would also receive special funding.

According to persons familiar with the development, only three government and three private institutes are likely to be announced on Monday, including two leading Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), a university to be set up by Reliance Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries, and the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani.

Existing, new, and even private universities at the conceptual stage were eligible to apply.

“The committee that was tasked with the job of selecting the institutes has zeroed in on six institutes and it will be tabled in the meeting on Monday for clearance,” said a senior UGC official who asked not to be identified.

It was in 2016 that the government announced plans to create IoEs. A number of India’s bestknown universities and colleges, including Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, most of the top IITs and a number of state universities applied under the scheme. The private institutes will not be eligible for government funding.

INSTITUTES WILL GET GREATER AUTONOMY TO START COURSES, ADMIT FOREIGN STUDENTS, HIRE FOREIGN FACULTY