Aim is bring them on par with IITs, IIMs With the National Education Policy (NEP)’s thrust on Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities or MERUs to create model institutions on par with the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), the AP State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) has listed five universities in the State to be upgraded into MERUs in the first phase. They are Andhra University, Sri Venkateswara University, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU)-Kakinada, JNTU-Anantapur, and Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT). “These institutions will be groomed in a manner that they will aim to attain highest global standards in quality education. The focus will be on research and innovation,” says K. Rama Mohan Rao, Vice-Chairman, APSCHE.