Jio Institute hasn't been given Eminence status: Javadekar

Prakash Javadekar answering questions pertaining to Institute of Eminence tag, in Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

The proposed Jio Institute had not been granted the Institution of Eminence status, as only a Letter of Intent had been issued, Union Human Resources Development Minister Prakash Javadekar informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. 

Mr. Javadekar made the statement while responding to a question raised by AIADMK member S.R. Vijayakumar on whether the government would bring out a White Paper on granting the Eminence tag to a university that had not commenced activities yet. 

Elaborating on the rationale behind selecting Jio Institute, Mr. Javadekar said the proposed university was among 11 such application received. "A Letter of Intent has been awarded and it will be reviewed after three years based on the way the university comes up," he said. 

A committee headed by N. Gopalaswami was set up to bring Indian Universities on a par with world universities, Mr. Javadekar said, adding that funding of Rs. 1000 crore would be granted only to public universities.

"None of the Indian universities made it to the list of top 100 world Universities, so we wanted to improve the conditions of 10 universities in the first phase. More universities will be added in future," he added.

When CPI member D. Raja asked why the IIT in Chennai was not considered, Mr. Javadekar said, "We are supporting IIT Madras too. If you get a chance to visit their research facility. It is wonderful and one of its kind," he added. 

Trinamool Congress member Derek O'Brien insisted on a one-word answer on the status of Jio Institute, Mr. Javadekar replied: "No. Only a Letter of Intent has been given, no IoE status."

Six higher education institutions, including the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, the Indian Institutes of Technology at Mumbai and Delhi, and the proposed Jio Institute of the Reliance Foundation were selected as Institutions of Eminence. 

The Jio Institute in Maharashtra — which has been chosen in the greenfield category — is among three private institutions to be granted the status; the Manipal Academy of Higher Education and BITS, Pilani, being the other two.