Govt seeks to improve performance, branding of top Indian universities

The human resource development (HRD) ministry Friday took a set of decisions to improve performance monitoring and branding of top Indian universities.

The higher education department asked the 20 institutes of eminence (IoEs) to quickly get on to the job as unlocking of the covid-19 lock-down continues, and come up with a three year vision document. At the same time, the HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal asked his officers to set up a committee comprising directors of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to build brand and improve perception of Indian universities abroad.

After reviewing the progress made by universities under the IoE plan, Pokhriyal said a project management unit should be established in the HRD ministry for monitoring the works of the IoEs and the higher education financing agency within 15 days.

Govt had earlier granted IoE status to 20 top institutions – 10 private and 10 public, and offered them wider academic and administrative autonomy to compete in the global stage. Under the IoE plan, the union government has a mandate to offer Rs. 10,000 crore assistance to 10 government universities.

While interacting with the IIT directors and other top university administrators, Pokhriyal said “a vision document of three years may be prepared by each institute and sent to the ministry of HRD”.

The move is in sync with a cabinet decision earlier this week that wanted all the ministries and departments to put in place project monitoring units to improve performance.

During the meeting, the minister congratulated Indian universities like Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and IIT Delhi, which were ranked under top 100 Asian universities. Eight Indian varsities have found place under the top 100 universities in Asia in the latest Times Higher Education (THE) Asia Rankings 2020.

The minister also advised the higher education department to set up a committee of IIT directors on the subject and devise ways to improve branding and perception of Indian institutions globally, a key demand from the academic world to make India a study abroad destination.

“Brand Building of the Study in India scheme and for all the reputed Indian institutions, perception management action plan for building international reputation should be developed by a team of Directors of IIT and eminent educationists,”Pokhriyal said.