NEW DELHI: Over 25,000 students will graduate from 23 India Institute of Technology (IITs) in the year 2022-23 and the government is doing its best to retain such students in the country, the education ministry told parliament on Monday.

Union minister of state for education Subhas Sarkar said the government was also providing “attractive” academic opportunities to non-resident Indians (NRIs).

Sarkar was replying to a question by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament Dhal Singh Bisen on efforts by the government to retain such meritorious students. He also asked whether such students had opted to go abroad instead of staying back in India.

“The Government is committed to not only retain the students passing out of the premier educational institutions in the country, but also provide attractive educational and research opportunities to Non-Resident Indians, within the country,” MoS Sarkar said in his written reply.

“Under the Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship scheme, an attractive fellowship of maximum of Rs. 55 lakh per scholar (including annual research grant) in five years is offered to selected students to pursue their PhD in Indian Universities/ Institutions so as to retain talent in the country,” MoS Sarkar in his written reply said.

Sarkar briefly outlined the government’s efforts to help such students

“The Government has also sanctioned establishment of Research Parks at IITs- Madras, Bombay, Kharagpur, Kanpur, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Gandhinagar and IISc Bangalore to augment the research ecosystem in the country,” Sarkar said.

The minister said that that Global Initiative for Academic Network (GIAN), a government programme launched to tap and link international and local talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs has been implemented as well.

GIAN seeks “…to tap the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs from abroad, including those of Indian origin, to augment the country’s existing academic resources,” Sarkar said.

“The Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC), aims at improving the research ecosystem of India’s higher educational institutions by facilitating academic and research collaborations between top ranked Indian Institutions and globally ranked foreign institutions, through joint research projects involving mobility of students and faculty,” Sarkar said.

The education ministry, however, did not respond in detail to specific questions raised by Bisen on the exact number of IIT students who go abroad after completing their education.

Sarkar also did not reply to the question whether the ministry would make it mandatory for IIT graduates to work in India as is its done for students studying MBBS and MD courses.

source : hindustantimes