PUBLIC loES HAVE RECEIVED LESS THAN HALF THE PROMISED FUNDS

The union government had committed Rs. 1,000 crore for every public Institution of Eminence. Since 2018, it has sanctioned only around Rs 3,400 crore for all eight taken together.

- R. Radhika, Aeshwarya Tiwari

The eight public institutions given the status of Institutes of Eminence (IoE) have together and so far received only around Rs. 3,400 crore as financial support from the Indian government. This is a fraction of the Rs 1,000 crore each government-run IoE was promised when the scheme was launched in 2017.

The IoE scheme was announced by then finance minister Arun Jaitley in 2016 and the first set of institutions to be designated IoEs was announced in 2018. As per the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines, each institution was assured a financial assistance of Rs. 1,000 crore over the period of five years or 50-75% of the requirement submitted by the public institution in its proposal, whichever is less. The universities and institutions receive funding in phases.

However, according to the data obtained by Careers360 through a Right to Information Act 2005 application, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru — which has received the highest amount so far — was sanctioned only Rs. 620 crore as of December 30, 2022.

The aim of the scheme was to improve the positions of Indian institutions in international rankings by granting them near-complete academic and administrative autonomy to undertake a wide range of initiatives and supporting the public ones with additional funds. For instance, IoEs are free to decide their fee for domestic and foreign students, have flexible course duration and structure, and are exempt from UGC approvals for foreign collaborations.

IITs, DU, BHU