The demand for a World-Class University in Coimbatore began more than a decade ago, along with that of an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and an Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Tamil Nadu.
The demand for a World-Class University in Coimbatore began more than a decade ago, along with that of an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and an Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Tamil Nadu.
The then DMK Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had written to the UPA Government stressing the requirement of the above institutions. In response, former Union Minister for Human Resource Development Arjun Singh wrote to Mr.Karunanidhi in May 2008 that an IIM would come up at Tiruchi while a Central University in Thiruvarur and a world-class university in Coimbatore.
With the Central University in Thiruvarur and the IIM in Tiruchi becoming a reality, Coimbatore is still waiting for the World-Class University.
It was much expected during the 2010 World Classical Tamil Conference that was held in Coimbatore that an announcement in this regard would be made. But till date the wait continues. Several political parties have made representations to the previous Government and the incumbent Government too.
To begin with, the Kongu Nadu Munnetra Kazhagam (KMK) urged Mr. Karunanidhi to seek an early announcement from the Centre on setting up of a world-class university in Coimbatore, much before the Tamil Conference.
Even after the Tamil Conference nothing happened on the World-Class University front. In 2011, the Coimbatore District Unit of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) began a campaign demanding the Central and State Governments to expedite the setting up of a ‘university aiming at world-class standards' in Coimbatore, which was promised by the Human Resource Development Ministry way back in 2008.
Representatives of the party held a protest in August 2011 pressing the same. They visited colleges after working hours, distributed pamphlets and collected signatures from students in support of a world-class university for Coimbatore.
According to State Youth Wing Secretary of the party V. Eswaran, the Ministry had identified Coimbatore among 14 other places to set up such universities, based on its educational ambience.
"Since 2008 there have been no concrete efforts to set up a university of world-class standards. Though the issue has been taken up in Parliament, nothing has been initiated so far," Mr. Eswaran had said then.
The MDMK had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce that the city would get a world class university.
In this scenario, the Prime Minister in October 2017 announced that government will identify 10 government and 10 private universities and help them achieve "world-class standards". The identified universities will be provided total autonomy besides a grant of Rs. 10,000 crore to "compete globally and be counted among the world’s best institutions".
The idea was to bring about qualitative improvement in the standards of education - currently India has virtually no representation in international rankings of educational institutions.
According to the HRD Ministry’s concept note submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office, the universities that will be in the reckoning for the grant, will have to have
- A corpus of at least Rs 1,000 crore
- A place in the top 500 in any renowned ranking system
- Accreditation by a reputed international agency
- Faculty-student ratio not less than 1:10 over 3 years of establishment
- Excellent laboratory facilities and cutting edge research
- A good mix of domestic and foreign students
- A good proportion of foreign or foreign-qualified faculty
- Teaching and research collaborations with reputed international universities
- At least two publications in each discipline in a reputed peer-reviewed journal every year
Following this, the University Grant Commission (UGC) came out with draft guidelines on World Class Institution (WCI). Draft guidelines and various reports have indicated that the core difference between the so-called WCI and normal universities in India will be that these 20 institutions will enjoy much more autonomy than existing universities and academic institutions.
The basic philosophy behind this move has been that the existing regulatory structure from the institutions likes the UGC, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), etc. do not allow fully autonomous environment for many Indian universities to become ‘world class’.
The government is correctly planning to create WCI with minimal State institutional interference. It is learnt that universities have started applying for the World-Class University status.
But is this of any benefit to Coimbatore ? It is a big No according to Mr. Eswaran. "The earlier concept of world-class university was designed to be an all-Government model that was to be executed in the form of new institutions. But the new concept is focussed on bringing about changes in the existing model and old institutions. This was not what was envisaged in the beginning and thus the ethos of world-class university has totally changed."
The grouse remains that though Coimbatore enjoys the status of being a famous educational hub housing a great number of institutions, it is yet to be recognised with an institution of the calibre of an IIM, IIT or IISc.