Institute Of Eminence: IIT Delhi has a new proposal for their alumni to help research scholars

IIT Delhi which was recently conferred the status of ‘Institute Of Eminence’ has an unique proposal for the alumni to help out students who take up research or social work. The IIT Delhi has approached its alumni to donate and will parts of their inheritance to the institution. They have also asked the alumni to name them as beneficiaries in their insurance policies.

Sanjeev Sanghi, dean of alumni affairs, said on Monday that a United States-based alumnus has promised to leave his alma mater $1 million in his will. Another, a 1967 graduate, has revised his will to include IIT-Delhi as a beneficiary, replacing Stanford University. Sanghi added that former students are also being encouraged to make the engineering institution a beneficiary in their insurance policies and that their request has been well-received by the alumnus.

Scroll reports that IIT Delhi has come up with “Giving Day”. The first fundraiser, held in March, raised Rs 25 lakh. Over the next five years, the institution hopes to collect Rs 75 crore a year from its 46,000-strong alumni – a big leap from the Rs 15 crore it has received since 2016.

IIT-Delhi is in need of funds. As one of six centres of higher education designated an Institution of Eminence, it is aiming for a top 100 rank in global rankings such as the QS World University Rankings and Times Higher Education Ranking. At present, it is placed at 172nd rank in the first and between 501-600 in the second. The institute is aiming to hire international staff and faculty and open their doors to international students as well. The administration has estimated an investment of at least Rs 2,500 crore. As an Institution of Eminence, IIT-Delhi will receive Rs 1,000 crore from the government over the next five years, but it must raise the remaining amount on its own.

Institutions of Eminence, is also in the process of “preparing a hostel privatisation model”, considering off-campus accommodation for senior students and a “graded hostel fee model” on campus.

The Scroll further reports that IIT-Delhi has also sent a proposal to the Ministry of Human Resource Development for a “deferred Aadhaar-linked student fee scheme”, by which students can pay their fees after graduation. The biometrics-based unique identity numbers would help the institution keep track of students after they have passed out. The proposal – which will have to be cleared by the IIT Council, the governing body responsible for all IITs – entails an external agency, like a bank, paying the institution a fixed amount after computing the cost per student and recovering the amount from students after they graduate, said IIT-Delhi deputy director M Balakrishnan”. Balakrishnan further added that all students need not pay the same amount. The ones who get high salaries will pay more, in effect subsidising the education of those who choose to teach, join research programmes or do social work.” He cites the example of Australian universities which are following this model.

IIT-Delhi reports that it generated just 23% of its recurring expenditure from internal revenue. In five years, however, it hopes to raise this to 50%. It plans to do this by getting more sponsored post-graduate programmes that train employees of companies in areas such as artificial intelligence and blockchain technology (a decentralised distributed ledger system central to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin). The fees for both are in the range of Rs 9 lakh and Rs 10 lakh a year, and revenue from such “continuing education programmes” grew by 200% last year. Over the next five years, IIT-Delhi hopes to make Rs 100 crore a year from these, as reported by Scroll.

Rao said the institution was taking a “more market-driven” approach to funding its growth.

Funds from sponsored research and consultancy doubled in 2017 to Rs 415 crore and the institution expects to make around Rs 300 crore from these in 2018. But, as the document submitted to the expert committee said, “The overheads paid by the sponsoring agencies is barely sufficient to even manage these projects.”

Also, two new science and technology parks are expected to come up at  IIT-Delhi’s Sonepat and Jhajjar campuses in Haryana “will host industry laboratories”, which are expected to fetch Rs 10 crore a year in “direct income” – from private parties that will use those facilities – and “indirect research funding” of Rs 50 crore. In addition, a “strong corporate relations programme” will add a further Rs 20 crore in “corporate social responsibility” funding, the plan outlined.

Anurag Rathore, who manages IIT-Delhi’s relations with industry,  has pointed out that the institution already hosts “Industry Day” on campus. Started in 2017, this is aimed at strengthening the collaboration between industry and academia.

While devising news ways to raise revenues, IIT-Delhi also plans to become more thrifty. In its plan, it promises to adopt “a strong process of cost auditing of various activities with a view to recover user charges proportionate to the actual expenses wherever possible”. This, the administration believes, will “save the institute” over Rs 10 crore a year.

The bulk of the funds IIT-Delhi hopes to raise would go toward developing six “key thrust areas of research” – advanced computational systems, advanced biological and healthcare systems and engineering, materials and devices, energy and environment, smart and sustainable infrastructure and habitat, and Industry 4.0.

It also plans to promote interdisciplinary research by collaborating with other institutions and professional education councils. On the cards are joint PhD programmes with foreign universities – in Australia, Taiwan and Canada to begin with – where students can go back and forth between the partnering institutions. Similarly, there would be joint programmes with medical colleges such as a collaboration with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

An incubation centre has been proposed to promote “deep technology start-ups”, which makes use of the latest developments in science and technology and is expected to come up this year while a Department of Design and a School of Public Policy will be operational from next year. Several “centres of excellence” would help bridge the gap between society and academia and also between departments. These include centres for “research on clean air”, “energy and environment”, and “cyber systems and information assurance”.

To attract foreign faculty, IIT-Delhi has to advertise in international journals and participate in more conferences – which are “a hunting ground” for talent, according to Balakrishnan.

Foreign students are just as important for a higher international rank and IIT-Delhi intends to draw them to its research programmes. “We will offer fellowships,” said Balakrishnan. They will be kicking off with 100 fellowships this year and would add more if needed.