University of Hyderabad now an Institution of Eminence

New Delhi: University of Hyderabad has been conferred with the 'Institutions of Eminence' (IoE) tag by the Union Ministry for Human Resource Development (MHRD).

This is the second institute in the South along with the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, to be accorded the elite honour by the Union HRD Ministry.

The MHRD issued the orders on Thursday to five institutions on the recommendation of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the expert committee.

The institutions that have been given orders, besides UoH and IIT-Madras, are Banaras Hindu University, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and University of Delhi. Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru has already been declared as an IoE by the MHRD.

In August, the UGC had recommended seven south Indian institutions of higher education for the IoE tag.

Out of the seven south Indian institutions, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and Vellore Institute of Technology were issued letters of intent (LoI) on Thursday for sending their preparedness for being declared Institutions of Eminence.

The other educational institutions which were issued LoIs on Thursday are Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Odisha and Bharti Institute Satya Bharti Foundation, Punjab.

Earlier, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal was issued a letter of intent by the UGC. The process of selecting and declaring Institutions of Eminence had sparked controversy in 2018 when the central government announced Jio Institute (A Reliance Foundation initiative) as an IoE.

This is because the institute had not been opened yet and all the other five names announced along with it were institutions of great repute.