In 2006, the Union Finance Minister announced about the proposal to empower Higher Educational Institutions to be at par with the world. However, the Institutions of Eminence gained limelight only recently, when Jio Institute was included to be a part of it.
THE AIM
IoEs are being constituted to improve their world rankings. First, the aim was to bring them under the best 500 educational institutions of the world in the next 10 years. It is expected that with time, they will enter into the top 100.
ADVANTAGES OF THE INSTITUTIONS OF EMINENCE TAG
The Institutions of Eminence apart from becoming the hub of learning and raising general education level in the country will have the following features:
- Greater autonomy to admit foreign students
- Greater autonomy to recruit foreign faculty
- Offer online courses
- Free to fix and charge fees from foreign students
- The flexibility of course structure
- Complete flexibility in deciding syllabus and curriculum, etc
WHY THE HYPE?
To achieve the objectives, the institutions of eminence will be provided a financial assistance of Rs. 1,000 Crore over a period of 5 years.
The assistance will only be provided to the public institutions of eminence.
THOSE WHO MADE THE CUT
The HRD Ministry received 114 applications (40 from private institutions and 74 from public institutions. 10 institutions are to be selected from both the categories. Till now, 6 institutions have made it to the list:
PUBLIC SECTOR:
- Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
- Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
- Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
PRIVATE SECTOR
- Jio Institute, Pune
- Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani
- Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal
At Delhi University’s 95th Convocation ceremony, Vice-chancellor¬†Yogesh Tyagi hinted on waiting for a formal announcement of DU being one of the IoEs.
An Empowered Experts Committee was formulated to look into the applications and prepare the list. It is hoped that Institutes of Eminence will serve as the torch bearers of a new age of learning and research in the country.
