Making the cut
Ten public and private institutes have been recognised by the UGC as significant runnersup in the race for the Institutes of Eminence tag. It could mean grants, greater autonomy, more brand appeal
In July, India’s Ministry of Human Resource Development announced the Institutes of Eminence (IOE) tag for six centres of higher learning. A five-member committee appointed by University Grants Commission and approved by the central government picked the Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay (IIT-B), Iit-delhi, Indian Institute of Science - Bangalore, Jio Institute by Reliance Foundation, BITS Pilani and Manipal Academy of Higher Education (though a resultant row saw the government clarify that the Jio Institute isn’t an IOE yet, since it hasn’t yet begun operations).
The Ioes stand to gain complete academic and administrative autonomy. They will be given resources to help them perform better in world rankings.
But it’s 10 other institutes that almost made it, that have got educators almost as excited.
“There are several worthy standalone institutes that did not win the coveted tag but impressed the committee enough to earn a recommendation for government support,” said a spokesperson from the panel.
These include management institutes, public health schools, rural institutes, science and mathematics colleges that show potential to reach national and global prominence in a singular field of study. The committee says they are “vital for the country’s economy and progress” and “contribute significantly to the rural population, especially the women and the underprivileged”.
It has recommended that the government offer them special grants, research facilities and functional autonomy — a benefit none of the runners-up was expecting.
These institutes are the Indian Statistical Institute (Kolkata), Institute of Chemical Technology (Mumbai), Gandhigram Rural Institute of Higher Education (Tamil Nadu), Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (Delhi).
“We also have recognised the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research [both in Mumbai] and the Indian Institute of Public Health - Gandhinagar,” said the spokesperson for the committee.
Besides, it has named institutes like Indian Institutes of Management (IIMS) at Kolkata and Ahmedabad.
“The decision will help bring these institutes into the limelight,” said Fatima Agarkar, co-founder of educational consultancy KA Associates. “The recognition and possible grants may help the already well-established institutes to grab more eyeballs. More students will know about them through the ministry’s data.”
Amol Dighe, dean of graduate studies at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, believes this government recognition itself will help. “The tag will enable us to attract talented students as they will have an impression of us similar to that of the IITS for research, and our students will get better jobs once they finish their course and research here,” he said.
The institutes named on the runners-up list have been steadily contributing to research in the field .
“The Indian Council for Agricultural Research, for instance, is helping generate technologies for sustainable agriculture, roping in youth to take up farming and helping them use science in agriculture,” says Ratna Kishore Babu, the institute’s public relations officer. “The recognition is hence long-pending. We are hoping that it will help us invite researchers from universities abroad to work with us and get more funding.”
The tags of recognition are not always backed by data, and hence they may not help students better choose a college. However, they do impress parents.
“We are not aware of the parameters used and therefore the tags do not mean a lot,” says Richa Saklani, founder of Inomi learning, a Gurugram-based counselling firm.
“But the government needs to publish their methodology, publish information about the research outputs of these institutes and their placement records so that we have a clear idea of what the tag means.”