Ex-Chief Election Commissioner to chair panel to select 20 Institutions of Eminence

The committee will select 20 Institutions of Eminence from among 104 institutions, including Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, that have applied for the status.

Former Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami was on Tuesday appointed the chairperson of the committee that will select 20 Institutions of Eminence. (File Photo)

Former Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami was on Tuesday appointed the chairperson of the committee that will select 20 Institutions of Eminence. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also approved names of Professor Tarun Khanna, director of the South Asia Institute at Harvard University, Renu Khator, president of the University of Houston and former director of IIM Lucknow, Pritam Singh, as members of the Empowered Expert Committee.

The committee will select 20 Institutions of Eminence from among 104 institutions, including Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, that have applied for the status. The Institutions of Eminence are proposed to have greater autonomy compared to other higher education institutions. For instance, they will be free to decide their fee for domestic and foreign students and have a flexible course duration and structure.

Their academic collaborations with foreign institutions will be exempted from approvals of government or UGC, except institutions in the MEA and MHA’s list of negative countries. Once identified, the target for Institutions of Eminence would be to break into the top 100 bracket in one internationally reputed ranking framework in 10 years.

The 10 government institutions, in addition to the autonomy, will also get Rs 1,000 crore each from the HRD Ministry to achieve world-class status. The government will offer no financial assistance to the private institutions. Only higher education institutions, currently placed in the top 500 of global rankings or top 50 of the National Institutional Ranking Framework, are eligible to apply for the eminence tag. The private Institutions of Eminence can also come up as greenfield ventures provided the sponsoring organisation submits a convincing perspective plan for 15 years.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram