Indian universities and colleges with the Institutions of Eminence (IoEs) tag, which include several top IITs, will now be able to set up campuses in foreign countries with the university grants commission (UGC) issuing fresh guidelines on the same.
According to the new guidelines, “Institutions of Eminence (IoEs) will be allowed to set up new off-campus centre-maximum of three in five years and not more than one in one academic year by following the procedures”. They will, however, require approval from as many as three ministries-
- Education ministry
- Home ministry and
- External affairs ministry – before they can venture out.
The Ministry of Education had launched the IoE scheme in 2018, according to this scheme total of 20 institutions were to be selected of which 10 are public and 10 are private ones that would enjoy complete academic and administrative autonomy. The new guidelines have been issued in line with the new education policy (NEW) as per which foreign universities will be allowed to set up their campuses in India and top Indian universities or institutions can be set up in foreign countries.
The guidelines further added, “an institution willing to establish an off-campus center shall have to submit an application to the Ministry of Education containing 10 year ‘strategic vision plan’ and a five year ‘rolling implementation plan’ which would include the plans for academics, faculty recruitment, infrastructure development, students admissions process, finance and administrative, etc.”
“IoE should maintain the harmony in norms whether in off-campus or main campuses. The norms should be the same in offshore campuses as that maintained in the main campuses for similar courses and must follow the similar exam patterns, evaluation, admission, courses, and curriculum activities, the guidelines stated.
Minimum 500 students can be enrolled under regular classroom mode with 1/3 PG or research students.
Institute of Eminence:
In the first phase, IIT Delhi IIT Bombay and IISc Bengaluru were awarded the IoE status in the public sector and in the private sector—BITS Pilani, Manipal Academy of Higher Education while Jio Institute owned by Reliance Foundation was given the tag in the Greenfield category. In 2019, five public sector institutions were also added to IoE status, these are Delhi University, Banaras University, University of Hyderabad, IIT-Madras, IIT Kharagpur.
Later, five more private sector institutions were added, Amrita Vidyapeetham in Tamil Nadu, Jamia Hamdard University in Delhi, Satya Bharti Foundations’s Bharti Institute in Mohali, and Odisha’s Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology.
Click here for more Education News
