IITs to cast net for foreign faculty

IITs to cast net for foreign faculty

News:

1. The HRD Ministrywill facilitate the recruitment of permanent foreign faculty in the IITs.

Important facts:

2. The Ministry will take up the matter with the Ministries of Home and External Affairs.

3. The move was applicable only to the IITs.

4. IITs are demanding that they be allowed to hire regular foreign faculty to get a wider talent.

5. Till now, the IITs can hire foreign faculty only on a contract basis for five years.

6. This will also enable them to climb in global rankings, as the faculty-student ratio and foreign faculty are two of the parameters used in top global rankings.

7. As many as 300 faculty positions are vacant in the IIT-Delhi alone, which is about 40% of its faculty strength.

8. This directly affects three or four parameters in the QS global ranking and ends up pushing the IITs’ ranks down.

9. Contractual appointments do not really help, as the contractual teacher cannot take Ph.D. students from the second year of the contract, since it is not known whether the contract will be renewed or not.

10. One reason for the vacancies in the IITs is that they do not get good candidates.