• Six higher education institutions including the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, the Indian Institutes of Technology at Mumbai and Delhi, and the proposed Jio Institute of the Reliance Foundation, have been named Institutions of Eminence (IoE) by the Centre.
• The Jio Institute in Maharashtra — which has been chosen in the greenfield category — is among three private institutions to be granted the status; the Manipal Academy of Higher Education and BITS, Pilani, being the other two.
• An empowered committee, under former Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami, recommended these institutions.

• The greenfield category institutions will be issued letters of intent for three years within which they have to commence academic operations for the notification declaring them IoE to be issued.
• If they fail, he said, the committee can recommend cancellation of the IoE status.
• This sets them apart from other institutions.
• He added that institutions not given the IoE status in this round could apply again till the committee finalised 10 public and 10 private institutions.

The Hindu