DU seeks alumni contributions for Rs 1,000 crore endowment fund

NEW DELHI: After the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT-Delhi), the University of Delhi (DU) is soon going to launch its endowment fund with a target of garnering ₹1000 crore. The university administration plans to match the funding it is likely to receive as a grant from the Government of India, under the Institution of Eminence (IoE) scheme.

In October this year, President Ram Nath Kovind launched the global endowment fund of the IIT-Delhi. The endowment fund has an initial commitment of over ₹250 crores, while IIT-Delhi has set a target of garnering endowment fund of around $1 billion (₹ 7000 Crore) over the next six years.

Delhi University has sought help from its alumni for which it has decided to make donations 100 percent tax-exempt, allow donors to select the area in which his or her contribution is to be utilized and compulsory audit of the endowment by the Controller and Auditor General of India (CAG).

Plans under IoE status

In September 2019. the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) on the recommendation of the University Grants Commission (UGC), awarded DU the status of IoE along with four other public institutions – IIT Madras, Banaras Hindu University, IIT Kharagpur, and the University of Hyderabad.

Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi in his letter addressed to the alumni has said that the university plans to take new academic initiatives including building new institutions in the fields where it is lagging. The letter says: “It will provide opportunities and facilities to enhance the quality of teaching and research and to attract talent from outside the University and make them stakeholders in our growth story. This enterprise will ultimately lead to the University's role and contribution to the nation-building and to scale greater heights in the global rankings.”

Delhi University is yet to sign an agreement with the Ministry, under which it will lay out the plan to achieve the status of a world-class institution. Public institutions with IoE status are eligible for a government grant of ₹1,000 crores. Upon getting the IoE status, DU will have complete academic, administrative and financial autonomy to spend the resources it raises and is allocated.

“To help our students and faculty attain academic excellence, the university would like to provide them with the necessary support, including the best and most modern research facilities and educational infrastructure. We, therefore, propose to match the Government's one thousand crores grant with the University's initiative of raising one thousand crore funds,” the letter says.

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