MoHUA constitutes committee to identify and designate institutions as Centres of Excellence

Source: The post is based on the article “MoHUA constitutes committee to identify and designate institutions as Centres of Excellence” published in PIB on 8th August 2022.

What is the News?

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has constituted a committee to identify and designate institutions as Centres of Excellence.

Why is this committee constituted?

In Budget 2022-23, the Finance Minister has announced that for developing India-specific knowledge in urban planning and design and to deliver certified training in these areas, up to five existing academic institutions in different regions will be designated as centres of excellence.

These centres will also be provided endowment funds of Rs. 250 crores each. 

Hence, in order to steer the process of identifying and designating institutions as Centers of Excellence (CoEs), this committee has been constituted.

What is the composition and terms of reference of the committee?

Composition: The committee consists of officials from MoHUA, Department of Higher Education (Ministry of Education), All India Council for Technical Education, NITI Aayog and leading domain experts. 

The terms of Reference of the Committee are

– To identify the parameters for evaluating the institution’s capacity to undertake training and capacity-building programmes.

– To lay down the process for the selection of institutions to be designated as CoEs.

– To recommend five CoEs, one from each region, based on the challenge competition.

– To suggest a list of subjects on which India-specific knowledge may be created and training and capacity building may be provided by the CoEs.