Navratna Universities
Indian will soon have ‘navratna’ universities on the lines of the famous Ivy League. They would be given ample funds, freedom to accept funds from outside and also freedom from the shackles of the government, he said at the 98th Indian Science Congress.
“We are working on the concept of having navratna universities or an Indian Ivy League. We intend to nurture these select universities, like the public sector navratnas, by generous financial support, freedom in accessing external funding and total autonomy so as to free them from the shackles of government control,” he said speaking on the topic. The eight Ivy League institutions are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University.
“With regard to our existing navratnas — the IITs and IIMs — we are according full powers to their boards to create posts within the approved norms, top up the salaries of the directors and faculty from the funds generated by them, open centres in India and abroad, amend rules within the framework of their Memorandums of Association and Rules, acquire and dispose property and manage funds generated on their own,” he said.
Seeing a silver lining in the 12% increase in research papers from India, as against the 4% global growth, Sibal called for an international consortia for research.
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