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PIO/NRI varsity soon in Bangalore

NEW DELHI: The Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) Trust has been selected by the government to run the proposed Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) / Non-Resident Indians (NRI) University — the first of its kind in the country. As per the proposal submitted by the MAHE Trust, the PIO/NRI University will come up in Bangalore.

This was announced here on Friday by Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi.

The PIO/NRI University would have deemed university status and according to the plan it would start functioning from the 2009-10 academic year. Though it was being set up to address the educational needs of PIOs/NRIs, 50 per cent of the students would be resident Indians.

As for the estimated cost of setting up the PIO/NRI University, the Minister said that was for the MAHE Trust to work out. The government, he clarified, would not invest any money in this endeavour and would only serve as a facilitator.

Since the PIO/NRI University was being set up to address the educational needs of NRIs and PIOs, a section of which has been complaining about the high costs of educating their wards overseas, Mr. Ravi said the fee structure would have to be reasonable and affordable.

He said that all the Supreme Court judgments relating to higher education would be applicable to the PIO/NRI University; indicating that it could not be a profiteer.

The MAHE Trust was selected from a final shortlist of three institutions; the other two being the Hinduja Trust, Mumbai, and Kadammanitta Charitable Trust (Pathinamthitta) Kerala. The Manipal University is one of the first educational institutions in the private sector to get deemed university status.

In all, the Ministry had received Expressions of Interest (EoIs) from 16 institutions in July 2007. Of these, five were eliminated at the first stage itself for not fitting the eligibility criteria. The remaining 11 applicants were screened by an Inter-Ministerial Committee headed by the Secretary in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.

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