Experts: Unfair to compare IIT-M with pvt colleges CHENNAI: Two premier institutes from Tamil Nadu — the state-run Anna University and IIT-Madras — that figured in the list of eight public institutions chosen as Institutions of Eminence (IoE) by an University Grants Commission-appointed panel, were denied the status of IoE by the UGC in its final list of six, which included three private institutions, to ensure “equal weightage for private and public institutions”.A 21-page ‘report of empowered expert committee’ released by the UGC on Wednesday listed eight public institutions — IISC-Bangalore, IIT-Madras, IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Bombay, IIT-Delhi, Delhi University, Jadavpur University and Anna University. However, the UGC picked only three institutions — IIT-Delhi, IITBombay and IISc-Bangalore — as they had the highest rank in the QS world university rankings (2018).UGC chairman D P Singh said, “It was a decision taken keeping in mind the principle of equity. These other five public institutions will be considered by the commission at a later stage. We don’t know when it will happen.”Tamil Nadu and Delhi had two institutions each making it to the list, but Tamil Nadu became theonly statetohavebothof them rejected,kicking off a debate in political and academic circles. “The policy is conceived in an extraordinarily casual manner. Comparing IITs and IISc with Manipal University or BITS-Pilani is ridiculous. Across the globe, such status is accorded only to institutes that have high research outputs. The research output of IIT Madras is far superior to that of private universities,” said Anna University former vice-chancellor M Anandakrishnan, who was also the director of IIT Kanpur.“The UGC has concluded that one yet-to-be established university has a potential to become autonomous, scuttling chances of institutions that have been proving themselves for decades just because they did not figure in international rankings,” he said.While higher education minster K P Anbalagan did not respond to calls, higher education secretary Sunil Paliwal said the state was happy that Anna University figured in the list of premier institutions. “We always knew it was a good institution but now we know it is among the top eight public institutions across the country. It is only a matter of time before we get the IoE status,” he said.Opposition parties like the DMK were not convinced. “It is unfair to drop two of our institutions because they did not figure in international rankings. It denies these institutions and its students the grant and allowancesthey rightfully own,” said former education minister Thangam Thenarasu. The state, he said, should take it up with the Centre. “It will be unfortunate if we don’t fight,” he said.Earlier, chairman of the empowered committee N Gopalaswami also admitted that large share of weightage was given to perceptions in international rankings. “Number of foreign faculty and students does play a part. Many don’t choose Chennai because it is very hot, and instead prefer a more salubrious climate. So although research and per person output at IIT-M may be good, they were behind others in the international ranking,” he said.IIT Madras director Bhaskar Ramamurthi said he was happy to know his institute made it to thefinaleight,but addedthattheonly option for the institute now was to wait. “We believe we can be IoE. In our presentation, we gave a clear pathway,” he said. “But frankly, I don’t know how we can improve people’s perceptions to get higher world rankings,” he said.

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