Institutions of Eminence' scheme
Context: The new guidelines have been issued in line with the new National Education Policy (NEP) as per which foreign universities will be allowed to set up campuses in India and top Indian institutes in foreign countries.
Indian universities and colleges with the Institutions of Eminence (IOEs) tag, which include several IITs, will now be able to set up campuses in foreign countries with the University Grants Commission (UGC) issuing fresh guidelines on the same.
Background:
- It is a recognition scheme to empower higher education institutes in India. It was first announced in 2016 Union budget.
Objectives of IoE Scheme:
- To provide an enabling regulatory architecture to ten public and ten private Higher Educational institutions to emerge as world-class teaching and research institutions.
- To provide a robust higher education system to become leaders in excellence and innovations
- To engage in areas of specialization to make distinctive contributions to the university education system.
- To enhance affordable access to high quality education for ordinary Indians.
- To compete in the global tertiary education marketplace through the acquisition and creation of advanced knowledge.
Selection Criteria:
- UGC had constituted an Empowered Expert Committee (EEC) under Gopalasamy chairmanship; to recommend a list of institutions on the basis of following criteria:
- Institutions, which have figured in the top 500 of QS World University Rankings or top 50 of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings, shall be recommended for the IoE status.
- Yet to be established (Greenfield Institution) will also be recommended. They would get 3-year period to establish and operationalise, and thereafter, EEC will consider giving IoE status to such institutions.
Benefits granted under IOE scheme:
- Funding: Government Institutions will get additional funding upto 1000 Cr. Private Institutions proposed, as IoE will not get any financial support.
- More Autonomy: The selected Institutions under IoE shall have
- Complete financial autonomy to spend the resources raised and allocated, subject to general conditions & restrictions of the Statutes.
- Freedom to fix and charge fees from foreign students without restriction.
- Freedom to determine the domestic student fees, subject to the condition that no student who gets selected admission is turned away for lack of finance.
- Complete academic and administrative autonomy
- Flexibility in fixing of curriculum and syllabus, with no UGC mandated curriculum structure.
- UGC Inspection shall not apply to IoE.
- Freedom to enter into academic collaborations with foreign higher educational institutions (in top 500) without government approval.
- Freedom to hire personnel from industry, etc, as faculty who are experts in their areas but may not have the requisite higher academic qualifications
- Freedom to recruit faculty from outside India
- Freedom to enter into academic collaborations with other Institutions within the country
- Freedom to have own transparent merit based system for admission of students.
- Freedom to admit additionally foreign students on merit subject to a maximum of 30% of the strength of admitted domestic students.
- Freedom to offer courses within a program as well as to offer degrees in newer areas.
- Freedom to offer online courses as part of their programmes with a restriction that not more than 20% of the programme should be in online mode.
Concerns with this Scheme:
- Critics says that IoE selection process is faulty as the reputed institutes like Jawaharlal Nehru University, which has figured in international rankings and produced many well-known public intellectuals is not considered for the IoE award.
- Granting of IoE status to private institutions that are run with a commercial motive can encourage the commercialisation of education.
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