Foreign faculty to teach at IITs
By siliconindia   |   Saturday, 05 September 2009, 00:23 IST   |    11 Comments
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Foreign faculty to teach at IITs
Bangalore: A special cell would be commissioned in the ministry to facilitate entry of foreign faculties in the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), informed the Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal. In a meeting with the directors from the IITs, the ministry managed to put an end to the professors' dissatisfaction over the pay issue which saw the faculty going on strike. A detailed presentation by the ministry pointed out that the IIT faculty will get more pay than UGC scale, including the Defence and Research Development Organization (DRDO) scientists after the revision from the Sixth Central Pay Commission. Sibal also promised to look over the unresolved issues very soon. There is a possibility that a common counseling will be provided to those students who clear both All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) from 2010. Final decision over this is yet to be taken. Another decision on merging IIT-JEE and AIEEE becoming a common entrance test will be taken later. The progress of new IITs was also among the topics of discussion, as the minister asserted to commission a special cell in the ministry to facilitate entry of foreign faculties in IITs. Directors and the minister also discussed over the prospects and the need to create, a pool of international faculty for IITs, which will be subjected to the ministry's approval. This matter will be further discussed in a separate meeting of IIT directors. The meeting was also informed about the PhD courses started in new IITs in Hyderabad and Patna. IIT directors have been asked to double the PhD intake and prepare a list of students who were awarded PhD degrees this year to meet the faculty shortage. The list will then be exchanged with directors of other IITs who can consider appointing them as faculty. When asked about the Bologna Accord, the minister opined that the country must have its own model. The Bologna Accord is specific to the European Union (EU), and intents to create Europe a higher education area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards comparable and compatible throughout the continent. Most of the EU countries are its members. Also, the directors were asked about the white paper promised by them on research and development in IITs including details of publications in high impact journals, patents, and other educational details. The ministry also reminded IIT directors about an order from the Supreme Court order which asks IITs and other educational institutions to help scheduled casts and scheduled tribe students at each stage. IIT Delhi has already been directed to reconsider its decision of expelling some students from this section on account of poor academic performance.

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