The University Grants Commission has constituted a four-member Empowered Expert Committee (EEC), which is being entrusted to conduct the appraisal of applications for shortlisting 20 Institutions of Eminence (IoE).
N Gopalaswami, former chief election commissioner of India is the chairperson of the committee.
The government is likely to announce the names of the selected institutions by April 2018.
The committee was constituted by the UGC after the approval of the central government, as per the UGC (Institutions of Eminence Deemed to be Universities) Regulation, 2017, and UGC (Declaration of Government Educational Institutions as Institutions of Eminence) Guidelines, 2017.
The institutions declared as Institutions of Eminence
Will be free from the usual regulatory mechanism to choose their path to become institutions of global repute.
Will have the liberty to enrol up to 30 per cent foreign students.