The Rs 10,000 Crore Club

No Indian university figures among the top 500 globally in the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities. Recognizing this, the government intends to provide Rs 10,000 crores to 20 varsities, 10 private and 10 government, to make them ‘world class’. This funding will span a period of five years, meaning that approximately 100 crores will be given to each university per year. This may be too little too late, but is a welcome initiative as it will create a club of universities that will be challenged to demonstrate their potential to become world class.