Indian Government would setup  Fourteen innovation universities with an aim of boosting the much needed research .  This was revealed by Union Minister of State for Planning, Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Ashwani Kumar in Chandigarh.
Addressing media here with Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kumar said that he has asked the Haryana government to send a proposal to set up one such university in Haryana as it is already developing an Education City in Sonipat district.
Expenditure on teaching and research by the Innovation Universities, would be kept out of the scrutiny of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). Â At present, a few elite institutes like Bhaba Atomic Research Centre, Atomic Energy Commission and Indian Space Research Organisation are exempted from CAG scrutiny.
Different faculties in such universities will enjoy the freedom to decide the intake and course structure. The faculty board shall have the freedom to prescribe fee structure for the under-graduate programmes while the university will decide fee for PG courses.
The university shall offer scholarship to 20 per cent of students at under-graduate and post-graduate levels. At the doctorate level, all the students should be awarded fellowships, the concept note said.
The institutions will enjoy autonomy in matters of academics, faculty personnel, finances and administration.
Universities will have the freedom to define their own appointment criteria. This includes, appointment by invitation to academics of eminence.
Kumar was on a visit to Chandigarh Tuesday and he reviewed the programmes of Haryana and plan priorities of the state. The visit precedes the meeting of the Haryana government with the Planning Commission April 25 for the state’s annual plan discussion.
Kumar said that the education hub being set up by Haryana at Kundli, 50 km from New Delhi, would not only benefit Haryana but the whole of North India. He assured of central help for the education hub.