Edu-leaders

EDU: IIT-B is among the few institutions in India making sustained efforts to bring back Indian professors from abroad. How does it go about doing so?

Dr Rangan: We have a global ‘faculty alumni network’, which is mainly a network of our alumni in faculty positions abroad, especially in the US. It helps us identify people considering returning to India. However, we are very careful while recruiting, as a lot of people who want to come back are not good enough. Just because somebody has a foreign degree does not automatically qualify them as good teachers and researchers.

We have an alumni meet in the US once a year where our administrators meet those who are desirous of returning, face to face. Interviews are also conducted through video-conferencing and appointment letters are given directly to the bright and deserving. Now nearly half of the people joining us as faculty have come from the US. We find that relocation is best done early on in one’s career – one or two years after PhD. Lateral entries are difficult as by then people usually have established an infrastructure for their work.

EDU: What is IIT-B doing to make its research environment, systems and processes more conducive to inspire Indian professors abroad to come back and work with it?

Dr Rangan: The research environment at IIT-B is very good for self-motivated people. As long as the faculty members fulfil their basic teaching responsibilities, they have the freedom and flexibility to decide on the areas they want to research in and carry on their work as they choose to. We also provide research staff to support the faculty. Further, they can have good quality PhD and masters students as assistants and an opportunity of interacting with bright young minds. We give Rs 10 lakh as seed grant, a start-up research grant given even before writing of the research proposal. In case the research involves buying equipment, the seed grant goes up to Rs 20 lakh.