Funding through IoE a right move, every university cannot become Harvard, Stanford: THE

NEW DELHI, MAY 9: The Times Higher Education (THE) has lauded Government’s plan to establish world-class universities in India through the Institutions of Eminence (IoE), as a serious effort to improve the quality of education and research. THE, the international Ranking Agency that ranks higher education institutions across the globe has said that India needs some research powerhouse universities to help its economic growth and IoE is a right step in that direction.

The Union Government is likely to announce the name of 20 institutions shortlisted to be established as world-class universities, 10 each will be selected from the public and private sector.

Phil Baty, Editorial Director, Global Rankings, Times Higher Education speaking to Careers360 said, “The IoE project is a good idea as it recognizes the need for more funding for higher education institutions. The idea to provide more funding to select institution is also important because you cannot fund every university to be Harvard or Stanford so it is better to focus on the smaller group.”

The selected universities will have complete freedom to acquire talent nationally as well as international and they will also be able to decide on the course, curriculum and fee structure. “Allowing universities to become more internationalized like hiring and firing of talent, because without talent a university is nothing so having such kind of flexibility is important. The autonomy that the government is granting to universities is also a right step to have the world-class universities. Too much of control, too much regulation stifles your ability to respond to changing circumstances, it holds you back,” Phil Baty said.

Universities have played an important role in the growth of many developing nations in the East Asian region. The Governments of these nations have also pumped in huge amount of money to improve the quality of education and research, as a result, the many of the institutions from China, Singapore have started to appear among top institutions globally. Phil talking about the Indian universities said, “One area where India is still behind is industry funding, in a lot of countries like China, South Korea or other parts of East Asia the governments have recognized that Universities are important for the economic success of the country and universities have transformed the economy.”

Talking about the disconnect between universities and industry in India Phil said that in India there has not been enough recognition of universities, business develop on its own, universities would develop on their own but if you will bring the best of the academics with the best of the industry it would really drive the economy.