UGC, EEC refuse to give Institution of Eminence status to Jadavpur University, Jamia Hamdard

NEW DELHI: University Grants Commission (UGC) and Empowered Experts Committee (EEC) have refused to give Institution of Eminence (IoE) status to Jadavpur University, West Bengal, the department of higher education informed the Parliamentary Standing Committee. On the other hand, the Tamil Nadu government has withdrawn the proposal to confer IoE status to Anna University.

The department said that regular efforts at the level of the ministry of education have been carried out to grant the status of Institution of Eminence (IoE). It informed that the proposals received from four private institutions have been forwarded to the UGC for necessary vetting by the Empowered Experts Committee (EEC). “However, the term of the erstwhile EEC has already been completed on 18.02.2021 and a new EEC is required to be constituted,” it said.

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Jadavpur University

Initially, the university submitted the proposal with a budget outlay of Rs 3,299 crore under the IoE scheme. Following this, the education ministry had sought financial commitment from the West Bengal government for their share of funds since “the scheme has a provision to fund up to Rs 1,000 crores of the proposed outlay only”. This provision is to ensure continuity of funds in case of any shortfall.

However, the same was not agreed to by the state government, and consequently the revised the proposal, first to Rs 1,015 crore and then again cut steeply to Rs 606 crore with 25% of the amount to be generated by the university at its level.

Taking a note of the significant decrease in the budget outlay, the UGC and EEC recommended not to consider Jadavpur University for IoE status. The university was ranked 4th in the NIRF University rankings 2023 .

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Anna University

The Tamil Nadu government had refused any financial commitment toward the university and informed the department that the state legislative assembly had passed a bill bifurcating the University into Anna Technological and Research University and Anna University. A committee set by the state government also recommended that the “Anna University does not require IoE status”.

Taking into account the suggestion, the state government withdrew its proposal. The department, however, has requested Tamil Nadu to reconfirm its decision and the reply of which is awaited.

For private universities, EEC has recommended Jamia Hamdard not to be considered for the IoE status.

Further, the draft agreements received from four private institutions, JIO Institute; Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore; Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, have been forwarded to UGC for placing it before the EEC, the department informed.