MHRD to increase number of IoEs, increase seat capacity, and take other steps to stop ‘brain drain’

The central government is planning to increase the number of seats in all premier institutes in the country by 50 percent by the year 2024. It is also planning to take the number of Institutes of Eminence (IoE) in the country to 50, the Union HRD Minister said on 24 July.

The HRD Minister met with top officials and said that a committee should be set up under the UGC chief DP Singh to provide suggestions on retaining Indian students in the institutes of India. The panel will give its report in two weeks’ time.

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However, given the current situation, increasing seats and the number of IoEs is a challenge. Increasing seat capacity by 50 percent would require a lot of funds. The ambitious IoE programme will be scaled up significantly to include 50 universities or colleges.

Currently, the Ministry is intent on giving IoE status to 20 institutions, 10 government and 10 private. To increase the number of IoEs, the MHRD would need the approval of the Union Cabinet. The IoE programme has been launched to nurture world-class institutes.

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In the meeting, the HRD Minister also implied that the MHRD is planning a series of measures to check the migration of Indian students to foreign countries for education.

The HRD Minister has advised the MHRD to make efforts to address the needs of students planning to go abroad to take initiatives to retain them by providing suitable educational opportunities in premier institutions in India.

“I have… asked the Chairman of UGC to head a committee to prepare guidelines and measures to ensure that more and more students study in India and come out with a mechanism to increase students’ intake in well-performing institutions,” said the Minister.

Many Indian students who were otherwise headed for foreign study destinations may change their plans due to the pandemic. Last year, 750,000 students went abroad for studies, taking valuable foreign exchange with them.

The UGC Chief said that it was necessary to create more twinning programmes, dual degrees and to ensure that proper research facilities were created.

A few more decisions were made in the meeting. It was decided that a mechanism needed to be created to increase intake in well-performing universities. Mechanisms will also be explored for starting multi-disciplinary and innovative programmes, twinning and joint degree programmes, cross-country designing of centres, facilitating online lectures by eminent faculty abroad, linkage between academia and industry, and facilitating joint degree ventures and lateral entry to higher education institutions.

Separate sub-committees will be created consisting of the directors of IITs, NITs, IIITs, CoA and the vice-chancellors of central universities, who will assist the chairpersons of UGC and AICTE. The chairpersons of NTA and CBSE will also make contributions.