123 Kolkata: The Jadavpur University Teachers' Association (JUTA) has written a letter to Sukanta Majumdar, minister of state in the ministry of education, regarding the ongoing Institute of Eminence (IoE) status controversy.
The letter, signed by JUTA president Partha Pratim Biswas and general secretary Partha Pratim Ray, responds to queries raised by MP Samik Bhattacharya about the UGC's IoE scheme and requested to intervene into the matter.
JUTA clarified that according to the UGC guideline, the scheme was meant for Rs 1,000 crore for a period of 5 years. Accordingly, the university submitted its project proposal of Rs 1,015 crore and was selected by the empowered expert committee (EEC) in the list of top eight institutions. In this context, the provision of project funds to the tune of Rs 3,299 crore was never documented in the relevant UGC guidelines, and the issue of a matching grant was never a pre-condition in this scheme. This was added at a later stage after the selection of successful institutions under the IoE scheme. "In this backdrop, we request you to go through the details of the sequences that took place for funding consideration of different institutions under the IoE scheme since 2017," the letter stated.
It has requested intervention to include JU in the IoE scheme, citing the institution's prestigious status and need for govt support.
Interim VC Bhaskar Gupta said, "We will write to the UGC to get back Rs 75 lakh of the application fee." The university had applied for the tag in 2018, spending Rs 1 crore on application fee. Seventy-five per cent of the fee was to be returned according to the application clauses since the status was denied in 2023.
Kolkata: The Jadavpur University Teachers' Association (JUTA) has written a letter to Sukanta Majumdar, minister of state in the ministry of education, regarding the ongoing Institute of Eminence (IoE) status controversy.
The letter, signed by JUTA president Partha Pratim Biswas and general secretary Partha Pratim Ray, responds to queries raised by MP Samik Bhattacharya about the UGC's IoE scheme and requested to intervene into the matter.
JUTA clarified that according to the UGC guideline, the scheme was meant for Rs 1,000 crore for a period of 5 years. Accordingly, the university submitted its project proposal of Rs 1,015 crore and was selected by the empowered expert committee (EEC) in the list of top eight institutions. In this context, the provision of project funds to the tune of Rs 3,299 crore was never documented in the relevant UGC guidelines, and the issue of a matching grant was never a pre-condition in this scheme. This was added at a later stage after the selection of successful institutions under the IoE scheme. "In this backdrop, we request you to go through the details of the sequences that took place for funding consideration of different institutions under the IoE scheme since 2017," the letter stated.
It has requested intervention to include JU in the IoE scheme, citing the institution's prestigious status and need for govt support.
Interim VC Bhaskar Gupta said, "We will write to the UGC to get back Rs 75 lakh of the application fee." The university had applied for the tag in 2018, spending Rs 1 crore on application fee. Seventy-five per cent of the fee was to be returned according to the application clauses since the status was denied in 2023.