University body defers decision on institutes of eminence

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has deferred a decision on which institutions should be granted the prestigious ‘institutes of eminence’ tag as an expert committee has recommended more names than the government scheme allowed for, writes Priscilla Jebaraj for The Hindu.

“The expert committee recommended 30 names, 15 in each category. But the government scheme said we had to select 10 in each category [of public and private institutions],” UGC member Sushma Yadav told The Hindu after the commission’s meeting on Tuesday.

Yadav also said there had been no mention or discussion of any report or input from the Intelligence Bureau regarding the proposed institutions.
Full report on The Hindu site

Yadav’s reference to the Intelligence Bureau follows last Monday’s report by ThePrint which claimed that the Modi government had been hesitating to give institute of eminence status to several top private universities – including Ashoka University, KREA University and Azim Premji University – after the Intelligence Bureau said that those associated with the institutions have been critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.