The University Grants Commission (UGC) has planned to set up 20 world-class institutions in the country.
The UGC approved guidelines aimed at creating an enabling architecture for 10 public and 10 private institutions to transpire as world-class institutions. It passed regulations for the 10 private ‘Institutions of Eminence’ and for 10 public ‘Institutions of Eminence’.The objective is to provide greater academic, financial, administrative and other regulatory autonomy to emerge as world class teaching and research institutions
A more advanced regulatory framework has been recommended for these institutes as they will get more autonomy in designing syllabi and deciding fee structure.These institutions will be free from the usual regulatory mechanism to choose their path to become institutions of global repute.Their emphasis will be on multi-disciplinary initiatives, global best practices, high quality research,and international collaborations.Teachers are also allowed to take up consultancy work among others. The institutions of eminence will have greater autonomy comparing to other higher education institutions
Apart from regular courses, the institutes are desiring to offer various inter-disciplinary courses. They would comprise in areas of emerging technology and interest as well as those of relevance to the development concerns of the country. The institutes will be also having a good proportion of foreign or foreign quality faculty.
The Tandon panel has been set up by former HRD minister Kapil Sibal after the quality of the 126 deemed universities was questioned. It has been found that only 38 deemed universities are worthy of the tag and they were placed in Category ‘A’. Forty-four were found to be deficient on many counts and it was placed in Category ‘B’ and 44 were termed unworthy and placed in Category ‘C’.
The UGC guidelines suggest that the IOE institutes should come up in the top 500 of any of the world renowned ranking frameworks within the first 10 years. Furthermore, the institutes should consistently improve its ranking to come in the top 100 eventually over time.
The financial assistance would be up to an amount of Rs 1,000 crore or 50-75% of the requirement projected in the perspective and detailed plans in a span of five years.