# Institutions of Eminence

Institutions of Eminence (IoE) is a recognition status set up in 2017 for higher education institutes in India, by the University Grants Commission. Recognised institutions are granted more autonomy, both administratively and academically, are allowed to open offshore campuses, and enjoy better collaboration opportunities with global universities. The plan encompasses twenty institutions, twelve of which have already been declared Institutes of Eminence as of April 2021. Public institutions are granted up to ₹1,000 crore (equivalent to ₹14 billion or US$170 million in 2023); no funding is awarded to private institutions. This scheme is equivalent to Russell Group Universities in the UK.

## Incentives

The regulatory infrastructure for the Institutes of Eminence (IoE) plan was provided by the University Grants Commission (UGC) through the UGC (Declaration of Government Institutions as Institutions of Eminence) Guidelines, 2017 for public institutions and UGC (Institutions of Eminence Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2017 for private deemed to be university institutions. According to these, both categories of institutions are granted more autonomy, both administratively (e.g. setting fees) and academically, and both will enjoy better collaboration opportunities with global universities. Public institutions are also granted up to ₹1,000 crore (equivalent to ₹14 billion or US$170 million in 2023) but no funding is awarded to private institutions.

## History

The IoE scheme was first announced in the presentation of the 2016 Union budget of India on 29 February 2016 by the Finance Minister of India, Arun Jaitley. The purpose of the plan was stated as "... to empower Higher Educational Institutions to help them become world class teaching and research institutions". The plan will include twenty institutes, ten private and ten public. The UGC set the guidelines and regulations for IoE in 2017 and set up an Empowered Expert Committee (EEC) which was tasked with the selection of the institutes and later with monitoring them.
The EEC considered 114 applications, 74 from public institutes and 40 from private ones, including institutes which are yet to be established, and in May 2018 shortlisted eight public institutes and three private ones. However, on the principle of giving equal weight to both categories of institutions, only six institutes were recommended by the UGC in July 2018, three from each category, a move which has drawn some criticism. More criticism was drawn to the fact that one of the private institutes recommended, Jio Institute, which was sponsored by Reliance Foundation, does not yet exist. The recommendation of the UGC was accepted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), granting the IoE status to the three public universities and issuing a letter of intent to the three private ones.
In December 2018, the EEC recommended 19 more institutes, completing a list of 15 institutes from each category, allowing for five institutes in each category in a reserve list. These institutes were ranked by the UGC based on QS World University Rankings, in which National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) was used as a tie-breaker for private universities. The resulting 14 institutes, seven in each category, were recommended by the UGC for IoE status in August 2019. This included two public institutes, Anna University and Jadavpur University, which will be considered for IoE status only if the respective state universities will comment to finance half of the investment. For private institutes, since not enough institutes were ranked, one vacant position was granted in the "greenfield" category, which gives the institute three years to operationalise the institution, after which the EEC will consider giving them the IoE status. This move again drew some controversy. In September 2019, the MHRD awarded IoE status to an additional five public institutes, four existing private institutes, and another private institute in the greenfield category. The five private universities were issued a letter of intent to grant them the IoE status, while two more private universities, Shiv Nadar University and O. P. Jindal Global University, required state legislation to end the existing private university status, in order to be declared IoE Deemed Universities.
By October 2020, the first two private universities to be issued the letter of intent, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani and Manipal Academy of Higher Education, were conferred the IoE status. In the same month, having met the legislation requirements, O. P. Jindal Global University was conferred the IoE status. Shiv Nadar University followed in March 2021.
In January 2021 the Government of India issued further guidelines, allowing IoEs to open offshore campuses.

## List of institutes

As of June 2023, the public institutions declared IoE are:
| Name | Location | Date of Notification |
| Banaras Hindu University | Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh | 17 February 2020 |
| Indian Institute of Science | Bengaluru, Karnataka | 11 October 2018 |
| Indian Institute of Technology Bombay | Mumbai, Maharashtra | 11 October 2018 |
| Indian Institute of Technology Delhi | New Delhi | 11 October 2018 |
| Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur | Kharagpur, West Bengal | 20 February 2020 |
| Indian Institute of Technology Madras | Chennai, Tamil Nadu | 17 February 2020 |
| University of Delhi | New Delhi | 2 March 2020 |
| University of Hyderabad | Hyderabad, Telangana | 17 February 2020 |
The private institutions declared IoE are:
| Name | Location | Date of Notification |
| Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani | Pilani, Rajasthan | 14 October 2020 |
| Manipal Academy of Higher Education | Manipal, Karnataka | 14 October 2020 |
| O. P. Jindal Global University | Sonipat, Haryana | 4 November 2020 |
| Shiv Nadar University | Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh | 3 August 2022 |