New Delhi: Excellence in research, academic
performance, sound infrastructure and ability to attract
foreign students will be some of the key criteria for
selection of universities from among the existing ones which
will be recognised as `navaratnas`.
These universities will be selected from among the 504
universities from across the country, the plan for which was
announced last week.
Modelled after the prestigious Ivy League of USA, they
will have financial as well as academic autonomy and their
status would be reviewed periodically to adhere to highest
standard of excellence, said sources in the HRD Ministry.
The Ivy league refers to about eight institutions in
USA which are widely associated with academic excellence,
selectivity in admissions and social elitism.
The institutes are Brown University, Columbia University,
Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University,
Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale
University.
At the meeting of the vice chancellors of central
universities last week, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal had said that
the `navaratnas` will "establish benchmarks for others
universities to compete".
International ranking would also be an important
criterion to select such varsities, said the sources, as a
handful of institutes in the country find themselves in the
ranking lists.
The selection process is set to get underway in the next
two months with a committee set up for the purpose submitting
a report by then. Sources said the move to categorise the
universities as navaratnas would trigger a competition among
the universities given the benefits and the recognition they
stand to gain.
It would also fulfill one of the prime objectives of the
HRD Ministry in ensuring academic excellence and enhancing the
quality of research work in the varsities, they said.
PTI
