Will weigh pros, cons; aim to retain autonomy: ICT

Mumbai: Following concerns over funding constraints raised by the premier Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) in Dec 2025, ‘the Maharashtra govt had initiated a proposal to change the institute's status to a state technological university', said the institute in a statement issued to stakeholders on Thursday. Clarifying its stand on relinquishing its ‘deemed-to-be' status, the institute said it will weigh the pros and cons of transitioning to a state technological university and added that it intends to retain complete autonomy in academic, administrative and financial matters. The statement was issued after media reports on the proposal to shed the deemed university tag, a move strongly opposed by the institute's alumni and faculty. ICT is ranked among the leading engineering colleges in the country with a strong record in innovation, patents and industry linkages. Its alumni includes Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani.The statement from the institute mentioned that the vice-chancellor, Prof Aniruddha Pandit, in a meeting with the state's higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil in Dec 2025, highlighted the institute's financial challenges and the limitations it faces in accessing adequate public funding as a ‘deemed-to-be university' . "In response, the state has moved to offer ICT the status of a State Technological University, with the Directorate of Technical Education formally asking the institute in April 2026 to submit a proposal to transition to the new framework", said the institute's statement.The institute mentioned that the minister was told that ‘ICT needs a substantial amount of financial support for capital expenditure for creating world-class infrastructure for teaching-learning and research. And that it is treated like a private university by central funding agencies due to the deemed-to-be university status'. It added that ICT wishes to retain its elite Centre of Excellence status given by Maharashtra govt and enable it to function on par with institutes of national importance like IITs, IISERs, etc. This implies, the statement added, maintaining the same service conditions such as retirement age of 65, and other service conditions, similar to those of IITs and IISERs such as annual block grant, funding for infrastructure etc.After giving the background of how the proposal originated, the institute mentioned that it will consider the DTE's request only after considering the views of all stakeholders, including faculty, support staff, students and alumni. The statement added that the institute will make necessary modifications in current statutes, so as to improve its academic, administrative and financial autonomy.The institute said that it will take up the matter for discussion in appropriate fora such as its academic council and board of governors, and based on these discussions, ‘ICT, will decide if at all, a proposal is to be or not to be sent to the DTE based on their request'.
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