Why in News?

• The human resource development (HRD) ministry is likely to move the Cabinet soon to increase by half the number of educational establishments that can be tagged “institutes of eminence”, or IoEs, offering them greater autonomy. The ministry wants the number increased to 30 from the original 20.

Highlights:

• The institutes of eminence scheme under the Union human resource development (HRD) ministry
  It aims to project Indian institutes to global recognition.
• Only higher education institutions currently placed in the top 500 of global rankings or top 50 of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) are eligible to apply for the eminence tag.
• The selection shall be made through challenge method mode by the Empowered Expert Committee constituted for the purpose.
• Institutions with the eminence tag would be allowed greater autonomy without having to report to the University Grants Commission (UGC).
• They would be able to admit foreign students and recruit faculty from abroad, and follow a flexible course and fee structure to enable them to vault to the ranks of the top global institutions.
• Six institutes – the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, IIT-Delhi, and Indian Institute of Science-Bangalore in the public sector and BITS Pilani, Manipal Institute and Jio Institute in the private sector — have so far been given the tag.