Mita Mukherjee
Teachers of Jadavpur University have urged the Centre to revive the Institute of Eminence (IoE) funding project of the university and to ensure that the institute, one of the most prestigious in the country, retains the IoE tag.
The Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association (JUTA) on Tuesday wrote a letter to Sukanta Majumdar, Union minister of state of department of education seeking his intervention regading this matter and to not exclude Jadavpur University (JU) from the Centre’ s list of Institute of Eminence.
Union minister Sukanta Majumdar had said in a question answer session in Rajya Sabha last week that Jadavpur University no longer enjoys the eminence status as it has been excluded from the list of IoE because the varsity had drastically cut the projected funding for implementing the scheme from Rs 3299 crore to Rs 605 crores. The minister also blamed the Bengal government for this because it had refused to share the funding for implementing the scheme.
The minister had said this when Rajya Sabha MP, Samik Bhsttacharya had asked him what was the reason that prompted the regulatory body University Grants Commision (UGC) to drop JU from IoE list despite initially including it in the list in 2018.
In Tuesday’s letter, the teachers’ body has clarified to the minister that the provision of the project fund to the tune of Rs 3299 Cr, as stated by the minister was never documented in relevant UGC guidelines and the issue of matching grant was never a pre-condition in this scheme and it was added only in the later in stage after selection of successful institutions under IoE when the university itself had agreed to share 25 percent of the matching grant.
It was in 2017 the UGC had notified for a special grant for 10 public univerditues and the same number of private institutions for their upgradation for sustenance of their excellence to be more competitive in global standards.
“….. The provision of project fund to the tune of Rs 3299 Cr was never documented in relevant UGC guidelines and the issue of matching grant was never a pre-condition in this scheme, which was added in later stage after selection of successful institutions under IoE scheme……” the letter read.
In this backdrop, the teachers’ body, in the letter, requested the minister to go through in details of the sequences which took place for funding consideration of different institutions under IoE scheme since 2017.
“Being an elected member of the parliament and as a professor of a state-aided university, we want to draw to your special attention for promotion of this esteemed institute by central funding for its upgradation of teaching-research infrastructure and sustenance of its acquired excellence in national and international domain…We feel that education being the issue of concurrent subject under state and central government, you should try to revive the IoE project funding and tag of Jadavpur University where the university itself has committed to share the matching grant from its own generation during the project period, which is an unique example in national level….we request your kind intervention for inclusion of Jadavpur University in the scheme of IoE as a gesture of government reciprocation and its social commitment for survival of this prestigious state-aided university of the nation” Partha Pratim Pratim Ray, general secretary and Partha Pratim Biswas, president of JUTA wrote in the letter to Union minister Majumdar.
