india

Updated: Jan 30, 2019 07:43 IST

The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Tuesday decided to take a call on choosing new ‘Institutes of Eminence (IoE)’ only after the government takes a policy decision on whether there should be 30 such institutions as recommended by a high-level panel or 20, as originally planned.

This means that 12 prominent public institutions such as IIT Madras, the Delhi University, and as many private ones including Shiv Nadar University (Greater Noida), Jamia Hamdard (New Delhi), Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Bangalore), Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar, will have to wait before being considered for the coveted status.

At a six-hour-long meeting that went on till late evening, UGC members led by chairperson D P Singh deliberated on the second report of the former chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami-led panel on creating world class IoEs.

“The commission has considered the final list of recommendations made by the Empowered Expert Committee and resolved to seek clarification from the government whether addition of 10 institutions, over and above the original mandate of 10 public and 10 private institutions can be considered. Further decision can be taken after receiving the clarification,” a commission member said.

New names for the conferment of this status will be considered only after the government takes a decision on how many institutes have to be chosen, the member added.

“The UGC will ask the HRD [human resource development] ministry which, if it feels the requirement, may also consult the prime minister’s office,” the official said.

The government had constituted the Gopalaswami-led panel to select 20 IoEs, which it plans to nurture into world class universities.

The government has chosen three public institutions — Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and the IITs of Bombay and Delhi — as well as three private institutions — BITS Pilani, Manipal Academy of Higher Education and Jio Institute — as IoEs in the greenfield category