When government announced Institutions of Eminence (IoE) on Friday afternoon, the first thing that caught everybody's attention was a Reliance group institution in the list. Mentioned as Jio Institute by Reliance Foundation, the institute is unheard of and has raised eyebrows for being tagged among the best institutions in the country. Interestingly, the institute has not even started functioning.
UGC has announced three public sector and three private sector institutions who will get the IoE tag. The list includes – IIT Delhi, IISc Bangalore and IIT Mumbai among the public sector ones and Jio Institute, BITS Pilani and Manipal Academy of Higher Education among the private sector. The original mandate was to find 20 IoE, which will be developed as world class institutions with the support and autonomy from government. The institutions are expected to break into top 500 in the world in a decade.
"The #InstituteofEminence are important for the country. We have 800 universities, but not a single university in top 100 or even 200 in the world ranking. Today's decision will help achieve this," said HRD minister Prakash Javadekar on Twitter.
The public sector institutions on the list will get a funding of Rs 1000 crore over next five years.
"The responsibilities attached to this coveted status are mammoth but not insurmountable. The expectations from the country by way of Excellence, Expansion and Equity culminating in a leadership role on the global scenario, are to be addressed from now on. What is exciting for me is the autonomy – the freedom to innovate, add new branches, partnerships with overseas universities etc. It will be very beneficial for students”, said Dr H. Vinod Bhat, Vice Chancellor of Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE).