Jio Institute to VIT: Picked for eminence 5 years ago, private universities wait and wait

Enough funding — with committed resources worth Rs 9,500 crore.

Certainly geared up for starting its academic activities from 2021-22 as an Institution of Eminence (IOE)… (confident) of meeting the stiff goal of being within the 500 of world rankings in 10 years.

This was the assessment of a Government panel that cleared the way for Reliance Foundation’s Jio Institute to obtain IOE status over two years ago.

Cut to 2023.

On the 52-acre campus of Jio Institute in Ulwe on Mumbai’s outskirts, “certainly” isn’t a word commonly heard these days.

Its two imposing glass-facade sea-facing buildings are desolate, its five lecture halls and faculty rooms on nine floors lie mostly unused. There are barely 120 students in only two postgraduate programmes — and just six full-time faculty members. On the ground, Reliance’s Jio University today is little more than an AICTE-affiliated campus — one of nearly 5,000 offering only certificate and diploma courses.

A far cry from the Institution of Eminence (IOE) it was envisaged as. When, in 2017, the Centre’s University Grants Commission (UGC) unveiled an ambitious scheme, backed by the Prime Minister’s Office, under which 20 institutions — 10 government, 10 private — would be selected for IOE status, which would give them sweeping autonomy in administration and academics and help them upgrade to global standards.

With Dr Dipak Jain as Vice-Chancellor, Jio commenced its first academic year in July last year with two postgraduate diploma programmes in digital media and marketing; artificial intelligence and data science. Narendra Vaskar

Under the scheme, a sum of Rs 1,000 crore each was earmarked for public institutions; private ones wouldn’t get funds but were guaranteed a range of unprecedented benefits — from freedom to determine fees and admissions to easing norms for entry of foreign students and faculty, and exemption from approvals for global collaborations.

Five years on, an investigation by The Indian Express, based on official records, visits to IOE-designated campuses across the country and interviews with several university personnel and government officials, reveals a sharp public-private divide — and a question mark on the future of the IOE programme itself.

Clearly, money has made a difference — but the promise of autonomy has largely remained on paper. Eight of the 10 Government institutes on the list, from Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru to the four IITs in Delhi, Bombay, Chennai and Kharagpur and Delhi University got the IOE tag and funds worth over Rs 3,200 crore.

Most of them have upgraded across the board and, incidentally, three of them have improved in QS global rankings in the last five years. Only two state universities, located incidentally in Opposition-ruled states, haven’t received the IOE status yet with delays mainly over the states’ share of funding under the scheme.

The inaugural batch of 120 students from over 15 states and four countries was admitted on their GRE scores, interviews and academic track record.

In private institutions, however, IOE has played out quite differently.

Consider the sequence in Jio’s case.

July 23, 2018: Govt issues Letter of Intent (LoI) to Jio, signalling preliminary commitment to grant special status. Jio was one of the only two higher education institutions selected — apart from Bharti Foundation, which pulled out later — under the “greenfield category” of the IOE scheme, intended for institutions not yet established. It had set off a political firestorm with the Opposition accusing the NDA Government of crony capitalism.

Dec 9, 2020: Education Ministry forwards Jio’s readiness report to Empowered Experts Committee (EEC) on IOEs, which has to vet the final agreements. Greenfield institutions must show readiness to begin operations within three years of LoI.

2018-2021: Jio acquired and renovated a campus and hired a former dean of the Kellogg School of Management as Vice-Chancellor. A former Caltech professor was appointed as the provost in 2022.

It was on July 9, 2018, that the first tranche of institutions selected for IOE status was announced by the Education Ministry (then known as the Human Resource Development Ministry).

Jan 22-23, 2021: Nine-member expert panel, headed by AICTE vice chairman M P Poonia, sent by EEC to visit Jio, assess readiness.

Jan 23, 2021: Panel reports that Jio “is certainly geared up for starting its academic activities from the academic year 2021-22 and ready for signing the MoU in respect of the Institution of Eminence Deemed to be University”.

Feb 2, 2021: Based on the report, EEC approves signing of MoU with Govt for IOE status.

Feb 26, 2021: EEC’s approval conveyed to the Education Ministry.

Since then, the wait is on.

For Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, the LoI issued: Sep 4,2019 | No. of students: 24,000* | Inspected: Feb 17-18, 2020 | Expert panel approval: March 1, 2020 | Current status: MoU not signed

During this time, the lack of clear communication from the Government led Jio to take the conventional route. It approached the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for approvals to start academic operations in its campus. According to AICTE’s letter of approval, dated July 12, 2022, Jio Institute was permitted to offer 60 seats each under four postgraduate programmes — artificial intelligence and data science; digital media and marketing communications; mass communication, and sports management.

A shrunken mandate given the size of the campus today: two nine-storey buildings, smart classrooms equipped with interactive whiteboards and the technology to support virtual teaching and live broadcast. There is a digital media lab and an augmented reality and virtual reality lab, a library with digital resources set up with Stanford University’s help, air-conditioned hostel rooms and recreational facilities including a gymnasium and sports arenas.

Officials in the Education Ministry attribute the delay in signing the MoUs with Jio Institute to expiry of the term of its EEC. The EEC has not had its term renewed since the last committee, headed by former Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami, completed its term in February 2021.

At Vellore Institute of Technology, LoI issued: Sep 4, 2019 | No. of students: 36,000* | Inspected: July 13-14, 2020 | Expert panel approval: July 24, 2020 | Current status: MoU not signed

The Education Ministry did not respond to an emailed questionnaire from The Indian Express.

And, according to an official at Jio Institute, the wait for IOE notification hurts them more than others. “This is because, unlike the brownfield (or existing) higher education institutions that can continue their academic operations while waiting for the eminence status, Jio Institute is a completely new institute and its start was contingent on receiving the IOE status,” the official said.

Asked what Jio would do if the IOE status didn’t work out, Dr Guruswami Ravichandran, the institute’s Provost, said: “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Dr Ravichandran is a former professor at California Institute of Technology. Jio Institute did not respond to an emailed questionnaire from The Indian Express seeking its views on the delay and the impact on its growth plans.

With Dr Dipak Jain as Vice-Chancellor, Jio commenced its first academic year in July last year with two postgraduate diploma programmes in digital media and marketing; artificial intelligence and data science. The inaugural batch of 120 students from over 15 states and four countries was admitted on their GRE scores, interviews and academic track record.

At Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, LoI issued: Sep 4, 2019 | No. of students: 21,000* | Inspected: July 17-18,2020 | Expert panel approval: July 24, 2020 | Current status: MoU not signed

It was on July 9, 2018, that the first tranche of institutions selected for IOE status was announced by the Education Ministry (then known as the Human Resource Development Ministry). These were: BITS Pilani, Manipal Academy of Higher Education and the proposed Jio Institute under the private category; and IISc, IIT-Delhi, and IIT-Bombay under the government category. In September 2019, the Government announced the list of the remaining 14 institutions.

Jio isn’t alone.

Also Read

Expired medicine, no oxygen: audits flag gaps in Bihar’s ambulance service

Since 2014, 4-fold jump in ED cases against politicians; 95% are from Opp...

IE100: The list of most powerful Indians in 2021

Full list: UNDEF grants to civil society organisations with affiliation t...

Bhubaneswar-based Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) and Coimbatore-based Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham are yet to be notified as IOEs despite getting the green light from experts deputed by a Government committee nearly three years ago. There are also others whose applications have been rejected or are awaiting various clearances.