UoH students protest alleging irregularities in IoE funds

University of Hyderabad students protested alleging irregularities in the use of Institution of Eminence funds. Citing RTI data, they claimed very little money was spent on research scholars and demanded a detailed expenditure report and better academic funding

Hyderabad: Alleging a scam in the Institution of Eminence (IoE) funds, the University of Hyderabad (UoH) students staged a protest at the varsity administrative building here on Thursday.

According to the protesters, a recent RTI filed by SFI exposed several serious irregularities in the implementation of IoE funds by the university. Students, citing the data, said the university’s priority has not been research funding or student support but large-scale infrastructure projects where huge amounts of money were involved.

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“Shockingly, only 0.78 percent of the total IoE funds received so far have been disbursed to a very small number of research scholars in the form of publication incentives and travel grants. Apart from this, not even a single rupee has been allocated as scholarships or financial assistance to marginalised students,” they said.

Demanding accountability from the university administration, ASA-BSF-DSU-SFI-TSF (student organisations) demanded the immediate release of a comprehensive expenditure report on IoE funds.

Students also demanded reinstatement of travel grants, increase and extension of contingency grants, advanced research software and enhanced library funds. They also sought a new building for the School of Medical Sciences and Department of Music, revocation of the development fee and increase in the non-NET fellowship.

Renovation of the hostel and immediate commencement of public infrastructure works, strengthening of publication incentive schemes and appointment of permanent faculty in required departments were among the demands.