Research fellowship criteria firmed up

Research fellowship criteria firmed up

Innovative projects that promise to break new frontiers will be shortlisted

The Centre has firmed up the criteria for the procedure for selection of 2,000 research students from 23 Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, who will be eligible for fellowship of ₹70,000 a month for innovative research projects.

“Research students in IISc and IITs who got an 8 CGPA or above in B.Tech or were in the top 20 percentile will be eligible to apply for these fellowships,” said an official of the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Being rolled out as part of the research fellowship scheme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this is expected to give a boost to quality research and innovation.

Calls for interview

The students will have to submit their project proposals to a portal and these will be assigned to a national coordination institution. Innovative projects that promise to break new frontiers in knowledge in the area will be shortlisted and the candidates will be called for an interview.

However, those who get the scholarships will have to refund the amounts if the project does not come to completion.

Offering incentive

Depending on the area or subject, proposals will be assigned to the particular IIT that is known to have greater expertise in the area for assessment. There are at present about 6,000 PhD seats in the 23 IITs and IISc, taken together. From among these, up to 2,000 projects will be selected.

The proposal was mooted some time ago by Secretary (Higher Education) K.K. Sharma at the 67th Foundation Day of IIT Kharagpur.

The scheme, it is believed, will offer an incentive to bright researchers who move towards corporate jobs for financial reasons to dedicate themselves to research and innovation. They will not be permitted to take up a job during the term of the fellowship.

The scheme will go through the Cabinet to get its nod for being rolled out.

Source|http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/research-fellowship-criteria-firmed-up/article19664458.ece

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Rizvi Institute of Management