JGLS Sonepat has lost its investment of Rs 25 lakh toward being recognised as “Institution of Eminence” (IoE), after having failed to make the final list of Indian universities declared as IoEs by the central government.
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that JGLS had lost Rs 1 crore toward the IoE application. The UGC will refund Rs 75 lakh out of the Rs 1 crore application fee to unsuccessful universities, the Daily Hunt had reported.
The union HRD ministry has granted IoE status today to IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IISc Bangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, BITS Pilani and Jio Institute, reported the Express and other media.
The Empowered Expert Committee (EEC) of the ministry for the task could muster only six names instead of the originally proposed 20, from 103 total applicants. The EEC found teaching and research quality of the other applicants too low to be accorded the IoE status.
The IoEs are set to get Rs 1,000 crore each in the next five years in addition to greater autonomy. They will be free to decide their fee structure and their course structure and duration.
JGLS Sonepat had stood a chance to be the one of the only renowned law school to make it to the list of IoEs after its parent university JGU had applied for the status in September 2017 but none of the national law universities had applied. The fee for the application was hefty at Rs 1 crore, whereas most NLUs struggle to make ends meet.
Several Twitter users have complained about the selection of the six, with Rohini Mohan tweeting:
Has anyone heard of Jio Institute before? 6 #InstitutesOfEminence to get multicrore grants from govt, includes IISc, BITS Pilani, IIT Bombay. How many PhDs has Jio produced? Where is its research quoted? Does it even have a website? #ModiLovesAmbani Rohini Mohan (@rohini_mohan) Mon, 09 Jul 2018, 17:51
threads most popular
thread most upvoted
comment newest
first oldest
first
1. The Rs 1 core is refundable if application not successful: timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/pu-to-compete-for-world-class-status/articleshow/60945606.cms
2. There have been tweets attacking Jio/Ambanis by far more eminent Twitteratis than the one you quoted, including the Congress Party. See below:
twitter.com/ShekharGupta/status/1016312160392114177
twitter.com/sardesairajdeep/status/1016283617515982849
twitter.com/WithCongressUP/status/1016325734279843841
This was a reason why most NLUs refused to even contemplate a bid. Not suggesting that any of them stood a chance, but noting that they were realistic. However, most readers of LI - none of whom are in a position of balancing the budgets of such under-funded public institutions - were up-in-arms at the perceived lack of vision/trust and what not.
What the NLUs understood, and what this country might want to as well, is that the current political establishment is all about technical education. That is the core BJP/ABVP base - IITs and NITs, not law schools or social sciences.
But you are right about the technical education part. Also been pointed on some news reports that this is the reason JNU, TISS etc were declined.
- MA in Entire Political Science
- BA in Jumlanomics
- PhD in Gau Raksha and Lynching
If JGLS deserves criticism it is on these counts:
1) Large batch sizes because of $$$$. This sacrifices student quality.
2) Many star faculty go on research leave. Among the remaining ones, one cannot be guaranteed to be taught by them as the batch size is large and there are many sections. So it's luck of the draw,
3) Overall, the faculty is heavily weighted towards public law and human rights. The Dean is a human rights scholar. Then, there are three Vice Deans who are really eminent scholars, but none of them has a law degree (a philosopher, sociologist and political scientist). Then, you have the Professor-rank faculty, who are also only human rights/public law people.
www.livemint.com/Education/c4ujfEI65dTxP4lOpjFTAK/IISc-2-IITs-among-6-in-govts-institutes-of-eminence-list.html
twitter.com/Jiolnstitute
Indian intelligence infiltrated IS ring to track, arrest Afghan suicide bomber sent to hit Delhi
One needs to remember that 30 page CV only invites derison. Too many publications means quality issues. Does not matter if it's a foreign journal as the business model of many journals means that it's the author who pays. Conferences where usually undergrads are given time by Spade full for presentation of papers are also passed.
FYI the institutions that applied:
theprint.in/governance/panel-scraps-shortlist-top-colleges-of-india-will-assess-all-applications-again/49020/
P.s. I'm not the person who made that claim. I don't even know whether that's true. So many guests are causing confusion. :D
Incidentally, the professor whom you are taking 'pity' at happens to be one of brightest legal minds that country has to offer, at least in the field of IP, Dr. Shamnad Basheer. Maybe you have come across his name somewhere. Shows even intelligent people are not prohibited from cracking the occasional PJ. However, I'm sure he can soldier on regardless of your profound sense of hostility. And the law school happens to be a small one, established in a remote corner of Karnataka, occasionally considered the first of its kind by some. So, unclench a bit, maybe?
Lets all Jio and let Jio :P
Kian, can you shed some light on this?
Guys, JGLS is three to four times bigger in size than any of the NLU you come from. Both in terms of faculty members and students of law. It's multi-disciplinary with strong schools in International Relations, Public Policy, Business and now Liberal arts and journalism.
Happy that at least one law school participated in this exercise.
For example, a 3 year engineering degree from a prestigious UK University is not recognised in India, but a 4 year degree from a no-name college, producing unemployble morons is. They stop universities and institutions from changing their syllabus or tailoring it because of teh mistaken belief that quality will suffer. They are apparently unaware of market economics which will ensure that bad colleges will fail (see the fall of engineering courses in spite of it being perhaps the most exciting field today).
Further evidence:
Delhi University has the potential for excellence. It had tried to reform its courses (they had attempted to introduce a 4-year UG degree based on the US pattern), but were made to reverse their decision by the UGC.
ISB is not recognised by the UGC because it offers a 1 year MBA, in spite of it reaching the top of the Financial Times ranking. ISB chose to retain its autonomy rather than now to the UGC, and are proudly unrecognised. However, should an ISB graduate ever wish to apply for a government job requiring an MBA or equivalent qualification, they will not be eligible to do so.
Similarly, faculty positions require at least a master's level qualification, which means, for example, entry-level professors should have completed a 2-year LLM to qualify for the NET. This disallows those who may have completed an LLM from Harvard.
Thus, many good institutions cannot become a great institution because they are forced to comply with:
- the syllabus, which is designed by the UGC.
- the faculty qualifications, which are based on conditions laid out by the UGC.
- the time to complete the degree, which is defined by the UGC.
This prevents multi-disciplinary learning, penalises precocious students who would like to complete multiple credits quickly, and prevents skilled graduates with foreign degrees from contributing to Indian academia.
Rewarding good institutions would allow them to compete globally, make their graduates more employable, and restore the prestige of these institutions and re-energise the cities they are located in.
We all know that Mr Ambani is very ambitious, and if he indeed sets his goals to creating a world-class university, it will be definitely an institution of excellence. The Ambani school is a testament to this. That said, the Jio institute does not exist. Let it be evaluated once it stands, and then be given the honour of being designated so. Meanwhile there are many others who can benefit from this designation.
It is not difficult to believe that clearly preferential treatment is being given to Jio institute, and criticism is definitely deserved.
I wish I could correct my comment.
As for QS and Times ranking, NLS can score highly in reputation and career outcomes, but the two remaining categories (publications and citations) depend wholly on faculty quality. For this, major changes in leadership are required, starting with the VC. Only a stellar academician can create a strong research culture. Among people living in India, Upendra Baxi and BS Chimni probably have the best international reputation and publication record, but they are quite old. Among younger people, Sudhir and Shamnad come to mind.
Among the other private universities shortlisted by the jury are those named after Ashoka, Jindal, Azim Premji and Ahmedabad. I have had professional interactions with these institutions too. They have different strengths; Jindal has the best infrastructure, Ashoka the best social science departments, Azim Premji University does research most relevant to policy issues, while Ahmedabad University has an innovatively trans-disciplinary approach to higher education. If the jury had focused more on future research potential rather than past teaching record, two among these four may have been chosen instead of BITS and MAHE.
...
My own view, as a close student of, and continuous participant in, academic life in India for more than four decades now, is that two among Ashoka, Azim Premji and Ahmedabad universities should have made this select list of six, because they have already, as it were, demonstrated proof of concept. They are up and running, have attracted outstanding full-time faculty from across India and the world, and begun teaching programmes.
www.hindustantimes.com/columns/how-not-to-promote-institutions-of-excellence/story-WSxDrOEwajPaSY6nxiL9oL.html
threads most popular
thread most upvoted
comment newest
first oldest
first