New Delhi, June 10 -- Finance ministry's Department of Expenditure (DoE) has tasked the education ministry with identifying four new private universities under the government's World Class Institutions Scheme in 2026-27, two people involved in the process told Mint.

The initiative is aimed at providing world-class education within India at affordable cost to domestic students while enhancing the global competitiveness of Indian higher education institutions.

The Department of Expenditure has also asked the ministry of education to ensure that six new institutions feature among the world's top 500 universities in recognised rankings such as the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, QS World University Rankings and Shanghai Ji...