Mukesh Ambani to invest ₹15 billion into the much delayed Jio Institute

• Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio will infuse ₹15 billion in its yet-to-be set up Jio Institute.
  
• The Human Resource & Development (HRD) Ministry granted the ‘eminence’ status to the Jio Institute in 2018.
  
• The university campus is speculated to be set up in Navi Mumbai, according to N Gopalaswami, former Chief Election Commissioner.
  
• Reliance Foundation Institution of Education and Research, which is setting up the university has already invested ₹7.7 billion.

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio will infuse ₹15 billion in its yet-to-be set up Jio Institute over the next two years, according to an ET report.

The company is known to have taken this decision after the Empowered Expert Committee (EEC) expressed displeasure with the delays in setting up the institute.

The Human Resource & Development (HRD) Ministry had granted the ‘eminence’ status to the Jio Institute even before it went operational.

The company was under the heat since it was the only proposed institute to be accorded with the ‘Institute of Eminence’ in 2018. This status was given solely on the basis of future prospects.

As of now, Reliance Foundation Institution of Education and Research, which is setting up the institute, has already invested ₹7.7 billion.

Earlier, the institute was supposed to be established in Karjat in Raigad district near Mumbai. Now, however, it is believed to be set up in Navi Mumbai, N Gopalaswami, former Chief Election Commissioner told Hindustan Times.

The institute is expected have a sprawling campus across 800 acres.

Eyeing global faculty

The Jio institute is eyeing global academic experts to be a part of its faculty. It is in talks with universities like Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, Northwestern University and Nanyang Technological University to bring in faculty experts and mentors to the institute.

The institute is expected to hire university staff and prepare an academic curriculum by October 2020, ET reported citing the company’s response to the government’s EEC.

According to media reports, the institute proposed to begin its first academic session in 2020-21, which was later revised to 2021-22. The institute is also expected to have a digital library and also incorporate digital learning modules.

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