india

Updated: Aug 03, 2019 09:04 IST

A university that Bharti Foundation plans to build in Delhi has become the second work-in-progress institution after Reliance Foundation’s Jio University to receive a letter of intent recommending it as an institute of eminence (IoE). Seven public universities and seven private ones also received similar letters issued by the UGC on Friday.

Azim Premji University (Bengaluru), Ashoka University (Sonepat), Krea University (Chennai), Indian Institute of Human Settlements (Bengaluru), and Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH), Gandhinagar, didn’t make the cut. Among these, Krea, which has just admitted its first batch, applied under the greenfield category.

In a meeting, UGC approved the IoE status for Bharti University in the greenfield category; to Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Bengaluru), VIT (Vellore), Jamia Hamdard (New Delhi), Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (Bhubaneswar), OP Jindal University (Sonepat) and Shiv Nadar University (Greater Noida) in the private category; and BHU, Anna University (Chennai), Jadavpur University (Kolkata), IIT-Madras, IIT-Kharagpur, Delhi University and University of Hyderabad in the public one.

The UGC ranked the institutions as per QS-2020 World Rankings. Wherever there is a tie, it used the National Institutional Ranking Framework as a tie-breaker.

All five private universities which missed being the in the top 10 were not included because they were not ranked, according to the UGC.

“All I can say at this stage is that I am disappointed that Ashoka was not considered,” said Pramath Raj Sinha, co-founder of the varsity.

While it is clear that nine private universities had chosen based on their rankings, it was not clear how the remaining one slot had been filled up, said Kapil Viswanathan, vice chairman of the Krea University.

“...Given that research and innovation is one of the key ranking parameter, IoEs need to demonstrate being multi-disciplinary and have an orientation towards research and innovation. IoEs being given the academic, administrative and financial autonomy is a critical enabler for this,” said Anindya Mallick, a partner at the consulting firm Deloitte.