UGC forms 4-member panel to select 20 Institutions of Eminence

The University Grants Commission has on February 20, 2018 constituted a four-member Empowered Expert Committee (EEC) with former chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami as its chairperson to shortlist 20 Institutions of Eminence (IoE).

The UGC has constituted the committee after the MHRD approved it as per the UGC (Institutions of Eminence Deemed to be Universities) Regulation, 2017, and UGC (Declaration of Government Educational Institutions as Institutions of Eminence) Guidelines, 2017.

“Consequent upon the approval of the central government and as per the UGC (Institutions of Eminence deemed to be universities) Regulations, 2017, and UGC (Declaration of Government Educational Institutions as Institutes of Eminence) Guidelines, 2017, the University Grants Commission hereby constitutes the Empowered Expert Committee,” a circular from the UGC stated.

The other members of the committee along with Gopalaswami include Tarun Khanna, Professor at Harvard Business School; Pritam Singh, former director of IIM, Lucknow, and MDI, Gurugram; and Renu Khator, chancellor, University of Houston System. The names of the selected institutions are likely to be announced by April 2018.

“The committee includes — N Gopalaswami, former CEC (Chairperson) and Harvard Business School professor Tarun Khanna Jorge, Former Director of MDI Gurugram and IIM Lucknow Dr Pritam Singh, Chancellor of University of Houston Dr Renu Khator,” the circular adds.

According to guidelines from the UGC, the EEC will conduct the appraisal based on the documents submitted by the applicants and will engage with the institutions to study their proposals and rank the institutions for their suitability for inclusion in this scheme.

The CEC will submit its recommendations before the UGC and the MHRD within 15 days and then the MHRD will issue the orders on selection of institutions. By March-April 2018, these institutions (10 each from public and private category) will be given the ‘Institutions of Eminence’ status for a period of 10 years.

After declaration, these institutions will be free from the usual regulatory mechanism to choose their path to become institutions of global repute with special emphasis on multi-disciplinary initiatives, high quality research, global best practices and international collaborations.

Also read: India poised to develop world-class Institutions of Eminence

About enrollment and recruitment, these institutions will have the liberty to enroll up to 30 per cent foreign students and will recruit up to 25 per cent foreign faculty. While the public institutions will receive both funds and administrative autonomy, the private institutions will be given complete freedom from government regulators.

According to reports, the MHRD had last year invited applications from institutes to apply for world-class universities and so far it has received 103 applications, including seven from IITs, Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jadhavpur University, Goa University and Mangalore University.

The O P Jindal Global University, Ashoka University, Manipal University and Amity University, among others, had applied from the private sector for the world class tag.

According to latest updates from the UGC, the deadline for the applications has been extended to February 22. The previous deadline for the application was December 31.