The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) has written to Prakash Javadekar, Union HRD Minister regarding disappointment over not including the institute in the list of Institutes of Eminence (IoE). Even though the institute had a recommendation from the UGC-mandated selection panel still it was not included in the list.
IIT-M expressed their disappointment regarding the same and argued that they were at par with all the other selected institutions and matched the criteria. This has impacted the morale of students as well as the faculty.
HRD Minister had granted the tag of Institutions of Eminence status to three private and public universities each. With the IoE tag, they have full autonomy and freedom to recruit new faculty, redesign the curriculum and were granted special incentives to project them as world-class universities.
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Ministry has granted the IoE status to many premier institutes of the country including IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi , IISc Bengaluru, BITS Pilani , Manipal Academy of Higher Education and Jio Institute by Reliance Foundation. IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi and IISc Bengaluru will be granted Rs.1,000 crore in the next five years by the ministry. However, private institutes are not eligible for this funding.
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Meanwhile, the selection of the Jio Institute by Reliance Foundation had to face a lot of criticism by many agencies but the ministry clarified the charges stating that the IoE tag granted to the Jio institute was conditional .