NLSIU Bangalore, Nalsar Hyderabad and NUJS Kolkata did not apply for Institution of Eminence (IoE) status, the application deadline for which closed on 12 December, as we had reported last week that the rules were likely not conducive to NLUs securing funding.
Nalsar vice chancellor Faizan Mustafa and NLSIU vice chancellor Venkat Rao both confirmed to us today that their colleges had not applied.
Rao said: “NLSIU Bangalore has not applied as the scheme, to the best of our understanding, is not applicable to uni-faculty universities.”
NUJS had considered applying for the coveted status which the government had invited applications for in September 2017 to select 20 IoEs on whom to bestow awards of up to Rs 1,000 crore.
NUJS vice chancellor Ishwara Bhat had told Legally India yesterday that after the law school re-opens in January after the winter break, the administration was considering applying for the UGC’s NAAC accreditation and also for the IoE status.
However, he commented today: “Not for IoE at present. Definitely for NAAC.”
The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is part of the University Grants Commission, which assesses and accredits universities and has invited online applications for accreditation until 10 January 2018. Having an NAAC accreditation was an eligibility criteria under the IoE application guidelines.
The application fee for IoE status, for which JGLS Sonepat’s parent university JGU has applied, is Rs 1 crore.
It is understood that public sector universities have been known to get grants upwards of Rs 600 crore from the central government already, whereas in the case of national law universities (NLUs) only the top ones are granted amounts of up to Rs 1 crore. The UGC used to give “plan grants” to the NLUs before the Modi government came into power, and under the 10th and 11th five year plans some NLUs, such as Nalsar Hyderabad, received Rs 8 crore for five years.
With institutions such as the JNU Delhi, the AMU, the BHU or the IITs and IIMs having resources such as faculty numbers of hundreds, if not thousands, and even full-time professors upward of at least 100, as compared to the NLUs, which often don’t even have any full-time professors, the competition and lack of affordability facing the NLUs made an application for IoE not a suitably attractive proposition.
Besides, even if they could have applied, one VC said that the odds of an NLU - or even JGU - securing the status were minimal.
Comments
1. The 20 IOE institutions would have 10 public and 10 private institutions. The 10 private institutions are not to be given any financial assistance. Prachi incorrectly mentions that the 20 IOEs would get 1000 cr each. The public funding would be given only to the 10 public IOEs not the private ones.
2. The regulations nowhere debar uni-faculty universities. Either the VC has been mis-quoted by this ‘journalist’ or the VC is ill informed (which would also not be a surprising thing considering the quality of VCs we get to withess in this country’s public universities). The regulations allow any university to apply and also allow colleges to apply as greenfield institutions. Thus, NLUs were very much eligible to apply.
3. NUJS VC or Prachi, the ‘journalist’ seem to be as beteft of correct info as the state of WB is of employment and GDP growth. The deadline to submit this application has already expired. The NUJS team would not be able to apply when the next semester opens even if he is not certain of deciding to apply.
P.S.: A side comment on the journalistic quality of this ‘journalist’. The article reads like an exam assignment of a first year English writing student which lacks any plausible flow of content and thematic analysis. Simply reproducing some ill informed statements of VCs without researching on the matter is not journalism. It would serve the purpose well if they begin to call it as student news blog. Journalism goes deeper and analytical.
Glass House WATCH OUT - incoming stone !!
Then please explain the following:
1) News report that Ashoka applied:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/education/iits-jnu-du-seek-to-become-institutes-of-eminence/story-RXG81srbmV9yqkHBfzz35J.html
2) News report that ISB and the Indian Institute for Human Settlements applied:
https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/reliance-bharti-in-varsity-plan-193199
3) News report that the Tata Institute of Social Sciences Applied:
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/647787/7-state-apply-institute-eminence.html
The institutes you mention are multi faculty spaces. You might think of them as an 'arts college' followed by two 'MBA institutes', but that isn't the case.
Law schools had little to no chance under the scheme. They were up against the IITs, the IIMs, the IISc, the IIAS, and a ton of huge universities like JNU, DU, UoB, PU, CU etc. The list is merely indicative.
Now law students may generally scoff at my temerity of naming these places in the same breath as the exalted NLUs, but in the real world (outside the incestous existence of lawyers) these places are better placed to get the IOE.
Also, another factor that might have played against NLUs taking a punt is the application fee - 1 crore. These cash strapped institutes can hardly risk putting that much money in a scheme that almost assures no return.
Hopefully people understand these realities and take the non-application for IOE as a prudent decision rather than condemn it off-hand.
OK, but what if the govt suddenly decides that one of the 20 IOEs should be a law school? JGLS will win by default as the NLUs backed out.