A big question mark looms over the quality of higher education in India. Not a single Indian institute has found a place among the top 250 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Only 30 Indian institutes have featured in the 1,000 in the rankings, compared to 31 last year.Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, the country's top-ranking institute, has also dropped to the 251-300 band from the 201-250 band it had climbed up to last year.The government thinks the problem does not lie with students but with the stifling governance of education. Instead of focusing on improving the existing universities and institutes, the government believes it is better to start with a clean slate. That's why it is planning to build 20 world-class educational institutions, which will be termed Institutions of Eminence. The human resource development ministry has already moved a proposal to the Union Cabinet for approval.Since regulatory straitjacket often stifles innovation and excellence, these institutions will be governed by new regulations which will ensure their complete academic, administrative and financial autonomy. These regulations will override all other UGC regulations and free the institutions of UGC’s restrictive inspection regime, the regulatory control over fee and curriculum.These institutions will have to meet high performance goals. They will have to achieve a place in the top 500 of any of the global rankings within 10 years of being declared an institution of eminence and eventually reach the top 100 slot.They will have a teacher:student ratio of 1:20 to begin with and 1:10 in five years, with a student enrolment of 15,000 in 15 years. There will be a good mix of Indian and international faculty, and only those who come with a degree from top 500 institutions in global rankings will be considered eligible foreign faculty.The institutions will be free to select students through a merit-based transparent admission process to ensure no meritorious student is turned away for lack of funds. Up to 30% foreign students vis-a-vis the strength of domestic students can be admitted. The institution will be free to decide its fee structure but will have to declare it in a transparent manner. Any reports of capitation fee will be treated as serious violation. An Ombudsman will be set up to cater to student grievances.One paper will have to be published per faculty member per year on average in a reputed peer reviewed international journal, with publications included in SCOPUS, Web Science, etc to be counted as a research publication. A world-class library with subscriptions to reputed journals related to courses offered will have to be maintained along with cutting-edge research in frontier areas.Full freedom to the institution to decide course structure, the credit hours needed for a degree, fixing of curriculum and syllabus and up to 20% online courses as part of its programmes and fully online certificate courses. Full freedom to hire faculty, even industry personnel as faculty and choose any career progression scheme, salary structure for its faculty. None of its academic collaborations will need government approval unless they are with countries on the foreign ministry’s or home ministry’s ‘negative list’.Ten government run and ten private institutions will be conferred this status, with Rs 10,000 crore funding earmarked for the former.