Education ministry issues guidelines to set up endowment fund in central universities

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Education has issued guidelines for all central universities to set up an endowment fund for the “purpose of mobilizing donations, funds and contributions from well-wishers, alumni, philanthropists and industries for the development of students, faculties and institutions.”

According to the ‘Guidelines for Central University Endowment Fund’ issued by the ministry to all university vice-chancellors, a 7-member CUEF board comprising vice-chancellor of the university, finance officer, two professors from different departments and three donors nominated by the Executive Council for three years will govern the endowment fund.

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The guidelines include creating a separate bank account for donations, maintenance of separate and transparent accounting, investment of donations for intended purposes, etc. The Board will take the decision about the utilization of funds and place the report in the finance committee meeting of the university.

“A reasonable percentage of the fund, not exceeding 50% may be spent annually with a view to maintain a good corpus for the future,” the guidelines stated.

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The central universities will have to fix an inspirational value to the amount of corpus fund to be mobilized according to its alumni strength, average salary of alumni, and possibility of mobilizing donations.

The ministry guidelines allow institutes to open a Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) account to accept donations from outside India. In order to invest foreign donations, universities will have to get permission from the competent authority or the ministry.

Further, the education ministry asked universities to publish the information regarding the CUEF fund and its utilization on their websites to inform the concerned people.