Two Indian Students Get Earth Scholarships From Brish Council

The selected scholars will be offered research place ments, training and oppor tunies to connect with Scotland-based PhD resea rchers, as well as industry and community partners forthreemonths.

Instutes of Naonal Importance (INIs), including IITs, IIMs, NITs and IISERs, are likely to be brought within the ambit of the proposed single higher educaon regulator, Higher Educaon Commission of India, City Vibeshaslearned.

Currentlycentraluniversies(CUs) andINIsaregovernedbytheirown Acts of Parliament and are not answerable to the University Grants Commission or the All India Council for Technical Educaon (AICTE).Whilethecentraluniversies are sll dependent on UGC for release of their budgetary grants, theIITs,IIMsandNITsdealwiththe ministry directly on financial maers.

According to sources, the EducaonMinistry,whiledeliberangon different provisions and powers of the proposed HECI, also considered bringing INIs and BUs within its ambit The move, if implemented by the government, is likelytocauseheartburnespecially among the IIMs which have been very protecve of their autonomy, especially since the passage of the IIMAct.

An IIM director who spoke on the condion of autonomy told media that the possibility of bringing all technical educaon instuons withinHECI'scontrolwasbroached during a presentaon made by the then AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe in December 2021. However,inthefirstfewmonthsof 2022, a few IIM directors collecvely wrote a leer to the ministry opposingtheidea.

There are currently 160 INIs including AIIMS, IITs, NITs and IIMs which are empowered to hold their own examinaons, grant degrees and receive government funding and are governed by their own senates/board of governors but with some involvement from thegovernmentaswell.

The HECI is the most significant highereducaonreformenvisaged by the new Naonal Educaon

Policy (NEP) released in July 2020. The idea of a single regulator subsuming all higher educaon regulators, however, predates the NEP 2020. In fact, the NDA government had introduced the Higher Educaon Council of India (Repeal of University Grants Commission Act) Bill' in January, 2018. But it wasneverfinalised,andwithintwo years, the NEP, 2020, was announced.