The University Grants Commission (UGC) announced 14 institution names, which have been selected for Institutions of Eminence (IoE) tag. These institutions were chosen out of the 24 recommended by the government’s Empowered Expert Committee (EEC).

Under the public institution category, UGC picked Delhi University, Banaras Hindu University, IIT- Madras, and IIT- Kharagpur besides, IIT-Delhi and IIT-Bombay, which were announced last year.

Among the private institutions,  VIT Vellore, Jamia Hamdard, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, O P Jindal University and Shiv Nadar University made to the list.

Satya Bharti University, backed by Satya Bharti Foundation of Bharti Airtel group became the second institute in the greenfield category to be given the IoE status. The first institute being Reliance Foundation’s  Jio Institute. Greenfield institutes include those that are yet-to-be-established. The above-mentioned institutes would get three years to establish and start their operations following which the EEC will decide whether to grant them IoE status.

The main aim of the Institute of Eminence scheme is developing 20 world-class institutions in India that will put the country on the global education map. The selected institutes will be given the freedom to decide fees along with flexible course durations. Under the scheme, the public institutions will receive a government grant of Rs 1,000 crore, while the private institutions will not receive any funding.

The universities that failed to make the cut includes Ashoka University in Haryana, KREA University in Andhra Pradesh, Azim Premji University in Bengaluru, Indian Institute for Human Settlements in Bengaluru and Indian Institute of Public Health in Gujrat. The selection was made based on the global or national rankings of the institutes.

Jadavpur University and Anna University will be considered for the IoE status only after West Bengal and Tamil Nadu governments issue an official communication allocating their share of the funds (up to 50%).

After the IoE announcement, the total number of universities selected for the eminence tag has gone up to 20, among which 10 are public institutions and 10 private.