Rs 300 cr UGC grant for varsities

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved a grant of Rs 150 crore for five universities identified as having the "potential for excellence".

The commission had short-listed 40 universities, of which Punjab, Bombay, Measure and Madeira University are likely to get grants.

The commission would also give Rs 1 crore each to 150 colleges across the country for infrastructure development, said UGC Vice-Chairman VNR Pillai.

The selected universities will be given a grant of Rs 30 crore each, over the existing grants, for a period of five years for infrastructure development.

Under the Eleventh Plan, additional grants would be given to some universities to improve their infrastructure, which would include seminar halls and auditoriums, added Pillai.

Jawaharlal Nehru and Pune University were among the five which were given additional grants during the Tenth Plan.

"The UGC has identified institutions across the country which will jointly utilise their human resources and infrastructure facilities to allow institutions to be better equipped," said Pillai.

The pilot project, for which 100 institutions across the country have been identified, will begin in a year's time and will be fully-funded by the UGC.