Foreign faculty to be paid hefty sum

All grade A institutes to benefit from this

India has offered to pay $8,000 for 12 to 14 hours and $12,000 for 20 to 28 hours of teaching to foreign faculty under Global Initiative for Academic Networks (GIAN) programme designed to meet the shortage of quality teachers in higher education institutions.

The “lumpsum amount” offered to  the foreign faculty will cover travel expense and honorarium.

“Local hospitality will be arranged by the host institution,” says the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry’s guidelines recently finalised for implementation of the ambitious programme.

As of now, only centrally-funded higher education institutions, which have been given grade ‘A’ certificate by a government accreditation agency including National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC), will be benefited by the GIAN.

The foreign faculty to be roped in under the programme would “initially” be made available to the Central Universities, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) only.

Subsequently, state universities, which have been given “A” grade certificate by the accreditation agencies of the government, will also be included in the list of beneficiaries under the GIAN.  Other state universities and colleges, a majority of which lack quality because of shortage of qualified faculty, will have to wait for the Centre’s decision for their inclusion in GIAN.

The ministry has already constituted a GIAN Implementation Committee headed by the Union Higher Education Secretary to identify and approve a pool of international faculty in coordination with Indian missions abroad and various other committees to be set up here under the programme.

The GIAN implementation committee will approve foreign faculty for teaching in India after a through examination of the proposals from Indian Missions abroad as well as foreign embassies and high commissions in New Delhi.