The human resource development (HRD) ministry and the Planning Commission have agreed on the Universities for Innovation Bill that will prepare the ground for setting up 14 innovation universities by the end of the Plan period.
So far, the two had divergent views on the ways of establishing these varsities. The Bill has now been sent to the law ministry before it is finally placed before the Cabinet. Each innovation university will specialise in research, besides establishing a council that will act as a link with research-funding organisations, industry and civil society.
?There was a misunderstanding on the way innovation is to be approached and the method of setting up the varsities. Now the confusion is clear and these universities can be set up in three moulds,? said an HRD ministry official.
The first approach is for new greenfield innovation universities focused on distinct issues of national importance and building various disciplines and fields of research around such issues. Under the second approach, a few of the existing universities and other institutions of repute will be identified after which they would be encouraged to attain world-class standards through innovation in chosen areas of knowledge with marginal top-up investment.
The third approach is that of identifying a few educational hubs or cities where a few institutions and universities of excellence by national standards are located, and creating the architecture of an innovation university by building synergies for inter-disciplinarity and research and teaching among such institutions.
?Foreign universities can also set up or participate in setting up these universities and also the private sector. This Bill will allow existing varsities to reach a certain level of excellence,? the official added.
The National Development Council of the Planning Commission had approved the setting up of the 14 universities aiming at world-class standards and dedicated to innovation across the 11th and 12th Plan period. These universities are proposed to be located in Orissa, Kerala, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, among others.
Significantly, these institutions will have the option of appointing professors by invitation?something that has never happened in any Indian varsity before. This means these institutions can appoint any person of high academic distinction and professional attainment as a professor or an assistant professor by invitation. Similarly, they will be able to appoint any graduate with academic distinction for research as an assistant professor.