New Delhi: Ten high-performing state universities across India are set to undergo Rs 100 crore upgrade each this academic year as they are forming campus companies—special purpose vehicles—to receive grants directly from the Centre. Besides, they will be mentored by seven US universities, including Cornell, UPenn and UC Berkeley, in various disciplines.
The universities have been selected under the Centre Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyaan (RUSA) to promote excellence, with the condition that the money is spent by March 2020.
Pune Savitribai Phule University, Kolkata Jadavpur University and Haryana Kurukshetra University are among the 10 universities with NAAC ratings of over 3.51 selected for the Rs 100 crore funding under the Centre Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyaan (RUSA) to promote excellence, with the condition that the money is spent by March 2020.
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As per a source from HRD Ministry, “These universities have been identified for their achievements. To climb up, say to move from a 3.51 to a 3.8 or a 3.9 involves a lot of work. It cannot be business as usual.”
At present, funds usually move through a circuitous route: MHRD releases fund to the state finance ministry, which, in turn, releases it to the state education ministry from where the grant is released to the university. With the universities forming campus corporations under the Companies Act, the MHRD will send the funds directly to the institution SPV.
Savitribai Phule University, Karaikudi Alagappa University and Hyderabad Osmania University have already formed their companies, while the Odisha government has given its permission for Utkal University to form a company and Jammu University is in the process of setting up its company.