HRD Ministry Holds Discussions on Proposed 20 World Class Universities

Discussions on regulations for the establishment of the proposed 20 world class universities took place on January 5, 2017, in the presence of senior functionaries of Ministry of Human Resource and Development or MHRD. The government had announced the establishment of 20 world class universities during the annual budget 2016-17. Various aspects related to regulations and autonomy were finalised in the meeting, which was headed by Prakash Javadekar, HRD Minister.

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According to sources, it was discussed whether the name 'world-class' could be used in the nomenclature for these 20 institutes. Some of the members were of the opinion that these centres could be called as institutes of excellence. Additionally, the ministry has decided to give more flexibility in terms of regulations through various suggestions such as bringing down the corpus funds for these proposed 20 institutes and others.

The meeting also witnessed discussions regarding the number of students that each institute should have. As per the plan of HRD Ministry, among the 20 institutes, ten institutes will be under public sector and ten under private sector.

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Earlier HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar announced that the government is keen to give autonomy to top performing institutes. He also assured that IIMs would get autonomy by the end of 2017. On the other hand, the institutes whose performance is not up to the mark will have less autonomy and more regulations. The plan is to ensure good quality of education and boost in global rankings.