HRD Ministry Seeks Cabinet Nod for 20 World-Class Institutes

The establishment of 20 world-class institutes is a firm step taken by the Government of India. These institutes will be termed as Institutions of Eminence. Further, the Ministry of Human Resource and Development is taking possible steps to get approval from the Union Cabinet. The ministry will send the proposal for approval soon. Recently, the proposal received approval from PMO Office. These world-class institutes will have complete autonomy, and will be free from UGC restrictions.

Also read: - Guidelines for 20 World-Class Institutes Approved by UGC

What will make them ‘Eminent’?

• The UGC Regulations, 2017, i.e., Institutions of Eminence Deemed to be Universities will govern all the institutes that are conferred with this status. These institutes will have complete financial, administrative and academic autonomy.
• These institutes will be free from UGC’s regulatory control over fee and curriculum as well as inspection regime.
• The institutes must achieve a spot in top 500 in any of the global rankings within ten years of being declared an institution of eminence. These institutes must improve the rankings and eventually reach the top 100 slot.
• These institutes will have a teacher-student ratio of 1:20 initially, and 1:10 in the next five years. These institutes must have a student enrollment of 15,000 in 15 years.
• The institutes will have a good mix of international and Indian faculty. The faculty members who come with a degree from top 500 institutes in global rankings are eligible as foreign faculty.
• These institutes will have freedom to select the students through a transparent and merit-based admission process. The institutes can have 30% of foreign students.
• These institutes will have autonomy to decide the fee structure. However, these institutes must declare the fee structure in a transparent manner.
• Each faculty member must publish one research paper every year in an international journal.
• The institutes will have to maintain a world-class library with subscriptions to reputed journals.
• The institutes must have a long-term campus (minimum of 30 years) with adequate space for expansion.
• Since the private institutions will not get any government funding, they can access government funds for specific projects and studies they may execute.
• The institutes will have freedom to decide course structure.
• The institutes will have autonomy to hire faculty members. The institutes can also recruit industry personnel as faculty members.

Who is Eligible?

• Ten private institutes and 10 government run institutions will be conferred the status. These institutes will get Rs. 10,000 crore funding for the former.
• The government owned institutes would apply to the HRD Ministry for the special status.
• On the other hand, private institutes will have to be backed by a sponsoring organisation with a total net worth of Rs. 5,000 crore.
• The governing structure of the institution, as well as sponsoring organisations, will be different.

Also read: - Not UGC, but HRD Ministry Likely to Release Funds for World-Class Institutions Directly

Who will select?

• The government will appoint an experts committee with three to five eminent persons.
• Their appointment will be applicable for three years.
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet will make the final approval for constituting the committee and selecting the members of the committee.
• The Experts Committee will recommend the names of the institutes that are eligible for world-class status.
• The Experts Committee will submit the names to UGC who will forward it to HRD Ministry.
• However, Appointments Committee headed by Prime Minister will make the final decision, and select the 20 world-class institutes.
• Finally, HRD Ministry will issue a letter of intent to such institutes. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed to decide the final conferment of the status with such institutions.