Eminently questionable

The status of Indian Institutes of Technology as institutions of nerdy eminence has been internationally validated for many years now. That persons of Indian origin today head Google, Microsoft, PepsiCo, among many other Fortune 500 companies, is ample testimony to the robustness at the core of India’s system of higher education. And, yet, in the global rankings of world universities, Indian campuses seldom make it into the top 200, largely due to an inadequate emphasis on securing an international profile — both in terms of faculty and students — and poor research-focussed performance. Some of this is, of course, attributable to the cumbersome regulations that tie down these institutions. Additionally, an inability to think big, and insufficient funds to scale up, are often cited as compelling reasons that inhibit Indian universities from reaching for the stars.

Given this scenario, the recent endeavour of the Centre to identify ‘Institutions of Eminence’ with an eye on building world-class teaching and research institutions is eminently worthy of commendation. It reflects a rare ability on the government’s part to look far out into the future, and to dare to dream big, in an area that has typically been characterised by short-termism. The Centre’s willingness to ease regulatory oversight of such institutions, including on matters relating to the appointment of foreign faculty and the framing of curriculum is a radical change indeed.

And, yet, the HRD Ministry’s final selection of six Institutions of Eminence — three each in the public and private spaces — has been clouded over by a wholly avoidable controversy. In particular, its choice of the Reliance-promoted Jio Institute, an entity that for now exists only in name, has stoked justifiable outrage. In its defence, the Ministry cites that Jio Institute was chosen in the “greenfield” category, and that one of the critical considerations that weighed in its favour was the size of the promoters’ networth and their capacity to creatively disrupt the industries they operate in. Howsoever persuasive these arguments are, it is hard to dispel the notion that the goalposts have been set up in a way that privileges an industrial group that is perceived to be proximate to the ruling dispensation. The fact that a senior bureaucrat who worked on the proposal later joined Reliance and participated in the Jio Institute’s presentation before the Empowered Expert Committee (EEC), reinforces these disquieting perceptions. A creditable endeavour in the space of higher learning has thus been tainted by the poor optics of the exercise.