Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham among 13 to get IoE status

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (AVV) in Bengaluru is set to get Institute of Eminence (IOE) status from the Union government which will provide it almost complete autonomy in its functioning and freedom from the regulatory mechanism.

The university grants commission (UGC) has recommended for granting IoE status to the AVV along with 13 others including Delhi University and OP Jindal University in Haryana.

The higher education regulator has also recommended for giving IoE tag to another yet-to-be-set up university of Satya Bharati Foundation, backed by Bharati Airtel Group, under greenfield project category even as a grant of the letter of intent to Reliance Foundation’s yet-to-be-set up Jio University in Maharashtra under the same category had kicked up a huge controversy in September last year.

However, the UGC has kept the five private higher education institutions including Indian Institute of Human Settlement (IIHS) and Azim Premji University—both in Karnataka—out of its list of institutions recommended for the grant of the IoE tag.

An empowered committee of experts had recommended for granting IoE tag to both the IIHS and Azim Premji University after examining their project proposals last year.

Earlier this year, a controversy had kicked off on a news portal’s report that the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry had kept pending grant of IoE status to IIHS, Azim Premji University and other private universities after submission of an adverse report by the Intelligence Bureau against them. The Ministry, however, had categorically denied the report, saying the matter will be examined by the UGC in its next meeting “purely based on merits.”

The UGC in its latest list of institutions recommended for the grant of IoE status has stated that the IIHS, Azim Premji University, KREA University, Ashoka University and Indian Institute of Public Health were “not ranked and considered” for the grant of the IoE status at its meeting held on Friday.

Among the seven public-funded institutions, recommended for the IoE tag, are Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras; IIT Kharagpur; University of Hyderabad; Jadavpur University, Kolkata, Anna University, Chennai; and Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.Univ