Mumbai: For the first time in 24 years, premier engineering institutions such as the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Matunga, and Pune’s COEP Technological University have been excluded from a central govt funding initiative being implemented in collaboration with the World Bank. Exclusion from the project, Multidisciplinary Education and Research Improvement in Technical Education, meant to elevate technical education in the country, is the third major setback for ICT in securing central govt funding, after it was left out of RUSA and then PM-USHA. The institutes are now planning to make a representation to the Centre seeking their inclusion.The MERITE project is a Rs 4,200 crore central scheme approved by govt, with a Rs 2,100 crore loan assistance component from the World Bank, for a period of five years from 2025. MERITE succeeds the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP), a long-term, multi-phase initiative. The earlier funding ranged from Rs 18 crore to Rs 25 crore for individual institutes. Both ICT and COEP benefited from the TEQIP funding in all three phases. MERITE is expected to benefit 7.5 lakh students in the country.Of the 275 beneficiaries in the country, Maharashtra had around 23 engineering institutions such as VJTI, BATU, Walchand, Sardar Patel and some polytechnic institutions. A govt official said, “Unlike other deemed universities, ICT is a state-sponsored entity, so it is unfair to exclude it from funding.” The institute was even considering giving up the deemed status recently to be eligible for govt funding. No decision was taken after it was opposed by its faculty and alumni.A department official said that no explanation has been given so far, but it seemed like the govt may have excluded unitary universities (universities with no affiliated colleges) from the funding scheme this time. “While sending data on institutions from the state, we had included COEP and ICT. But the Centre seems to have taken only one university, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University (an affiliating university), from the state. The institutions, which have been excluded, may give representation to the Centre in the coming days,” he said.An academician told TOI that the decision to omit unitary universities was not conveyed beforehand and ICT was always a beneficiary of TEQIP, despite the university status granted in 2008. COEP, however, he added, became a technological university only in 2022, after TEQIP phase III ended in 2021. Under the funding, the institutions worked towards enhancing teaching research facilities, collaborative research and even mentored lesser-endowed engineering colleges.
