The HRD Ministry has recommended the premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to build up a considerable percentage of the foreign faculty. This step has been taken with the agenda of working our up in the global ranking lists:
“Many IITs are new and not known. However, IIT as a brand is well known globally and therefore the ministry feels they can join hands while recruiting foreign faculty. This could come up as an agenda at the IIT Council meeting. We will discuss the possibility of a joint body for the same. The old IITs including the Guwahati and Roorkee have a good international network and the collaboration will definitely help the new IITs,” said a source.
Collaborations with foreign campuses, research organizations and alumni connections will help IITs recruit research scholars, especially of Indian origin. The percentage of foreign faculty and their research work are some of the key indicators of higher global ranking and the mechanism to include the same will be discussed at length in forthcoming council meetings this month.
Foreign faculty members are not being recommended only with the aim of sharp research profiles also to fast-track innovations and creativity, as informed by R Nagarajan, IIT Madras International and Alumni Relations dean.
The pay package for the foreign faculty is still under deliberation as told by an official present at the council meeting but the focus now is to just target young scholars fresh out of foreign campuses after completing their PhDs.
IIT Madras hosts 5 foreign professors out of 600 and it is aiming to pull it up till 5% of the total. On the other hand, IITs which have been granted ‘Institute of Excellence’ status can recruit foreign faculty up to 30% of the total while also being given the autonomy to decide on the pay scale.