Institutes of Eminence to help varsities spread wings

Freedom to set salaries and curriculum proposed

The University of Delhi was ranked eighth among Indian higher education institutes, in the Union ministry of human resource development (MHRD)’s National Institutional Ranking Framework 2017.

The Indian Institute of Science at Bengaluru was ranked number one. While IISc has a faculty to student ratio of 1:8.2, Delhi university’s (DU’s) is 1:22.9.

Globally, DU gets ranked in the 601-800 band on the Times Higher Education rankings. The faculty-to-student ratio gets worse nationally, with the Association of Indian Universities estimating India’s average for higher educational institutions at around 1:27.

This could change for at least the 10 public and 10 private higher education institutions the MHRD wishes to set apart as Institutes of Eminence. The Union government on Friday said it was setting up an empowered committee to select 20 institutes for this purpose, to get the tag by March next year. While the nomenclature has undergone a change from world-class institutes to Institutes of Eminence, the aim remains the same — to get these institutes ranked in the top 500 and eventually top 100 in global rankings.

“India has a large width of excellence in academics but poor tertiary education. The government is, therefore, trying to create a pool of elite universities and improve the quality of affiliated colleges. This is being done by finding potential institutes which can be groomed into becoming world-class, on the lines of Cambridge, Oxford or Princeton,” said a member of the University Grants Commission (UGC), on condition of anonymity.

This is being done by freeing these universities or institutes from several regulatory controls, besides according greater autonomy in the areas of academics, administration and research. Public and private universities have to currently seek UGC approval before making changes to their curricula or launching a new programme. Any recognised as an Institute of Eminence by the government will have the freedom to do so on its own. It is learnt these institutes will also bag the freedom to tweak remuneration structures, to attract quality faculty members, both domestic and foreign. 

Unlike the current regime, Institutes of Eminence will have the freedom to not only fix remuneration for foreign faculty but also admit about 25 per cent of foreign students on their campuses.

MHRD feels an improved faculty to student ratio, an international to domestic faculty ratio and international to domestic student ratio will also help these institutes gain global prominence. Invitations to participate will be invited once the government sets up an empowered panel of eminent personalities to vet and identify 10 public and 10 private universities.  The identified universities are encouraged to aim at a 1:20 faculty to student ratio in the first five years, to be later revised to 1:10.

The 10 public universities identified as institutes of eminence will each be granted an additional Rs 20 crore annually for five years to undertake enhanced research, purchase of equipment, international collaboration and citations in prominent global journals, among others. “Unlike the private universities, public universities are heavily dependent on government funds. More, globally, research at such institutions are backed by government funding. Hence the additional grant. Private universities will gain freedom in fixing curriculum, though the UGC will still have regulatory control for awarding degrees,” the UGC member said.

UGC sources indicate the list of 20 institutes could be expanded, a decision which is possible after two-three years. 

There are around 800 public and private universities in India under the UGC — 47 central universities, 363 state universities, 121 deemed universities and 269 private universities.  Also, under the department of higher education in the MHRD, there are 23 Indian Institutes of Technology, 20 Indian Institutes of Management, 31 National Institutes of Technology, seven Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, and seven All India Institutes of Medical Sciences, among 35 other institutes of national importance.

Freedom from regulatory intervention of the UGC and All India Council for Technical Education would be a plus for these 20 institutes. “In public universities, there is a lot of interference and restriction in terms of curriculum and administration. Through this initiative, both the public and private universities will have independence to hire and fix remuneration, as well as work towards increased diversity of tudents. A good proportion of international students will increase the peer value of these campuses,” said Shobha Ghosh, assistant secretary general at business chamber Ficci.