Govt. of India approved a new program titled Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) in Higher Education aimed at tapping the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs, internationally to encourage their engagement with the institutes of Higher Education in India so as to augment the country’s existing academic resources, accelerate the pace of quality reform, and elevate India’s scientific and technological capacity to global excellence.
In order to garner the best international experience into our systems of education, enable interaction of students and faculty with the best academic and industry experts from all over the world and also share their experiences and expertise to motivate people to work on Indian problems, there is a need for a Scheme of International Summer and Winter Term. During the ‘Retreat’ of IITs with Minister of Human Resource Development Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani on 29th June, 2014 at Goa, it was decided that “A system of Guest Lectures by internationally and nationally renowned experts would be evolved along with a comprehensive Faculty Development Programme not only for new IITs, IIMs, IISERs but also other institutions in the country.
Website : http://www.gian.iitkgp.ac.in/
GUIDELINES FOR CONDUCTING THE COURSES UNDER GIAN
The following guidelines should be adopted for conducting the courses approved under GIAN scheme at University of Mumbai.
1. Course Brochure and Report Submission:
As soon as the course is approved and the same has been intimated to the respective course coordinator, course coordinator needs to submit the course brochure (
Annex I) with final dates in consultation with foreign faculty. If the course proposal has been accepted with remarks for revision or reviewer suggest any further revision in approved courses, such revisions need not be sent to apex body again for approval. Local Coordinator will ensure that such revision will be incorporated in the course brochure. Final revised course brochure should be submitted during the report submission after completion of the course to the local coordinator along with the utilization certificate issued by the Finance & Accounts section
2. VISA and Invitation Letter for the Foreign Faculty (
Annex II) The type of Visa applicable for the foreign expert will typically be Business Visa.
3. Course Requirement:
i) The course offered by a host institution should be made available for participation from other institution. In general it is not expected that more than 50% participants will be from the Host Institution.
ii) For Courses offering credits, it should follow all standard norms of the Host Institution including continuous evaluation through assignments , quizzes etc. And examinations like class tests. For 10-14 lectures (one week course) , one credit and for 20-28 lectures, two credits may be assigned.
III) Foreign expert faculty should take minimum of 75% of the total lectures for a given course. Focus should be to get as much as number of lectures by foreign faculty.
4. Consent for video Recording and Broadcasting consent for video recording and Broadcasting (Live streaming) of the courses should be obtained from the foreign experts by the respective course coordinator (
Annex III: consent form) as soon as the course approval notifications is received. They may be informed that video recording of the courses shall be broadcasted nationally/ within the Institute. The Video recording of the courses can also be linked to the National Digital Library which will be accessible to anyone. Course coordinator should ensure in advance for necessary arrangements in this regard.
5) Development of Repository course coordinator will submit a copy of of all recorded lectures to the local coordinator within 30 days of the completion of the course. A digital repository of the activities under GIAN will be maintained. All the course will be archived and will be made available for dissemination. One copy will also be provided to the National Digital Library through the Local coordinator.
6) Funding :
i) For one week course the budget is maximum 8000 USD and the budget is limited to a maximum 12000 USD for two week course. The break-up heads for utilizing the fund are :
a) Honorarium and travel of foreign experts/faculty (please see the point 7 for further clarification)
b) Lecture note preparation
c) Video recording of the course
d) Contingencies and miscellaneous expenses if any.
i) a maximum of Rs. 1.5 lakh (for one week course, 10-14 lectures) and Rs. 2 Lakhs for (2 weeks course,20- 28 lectures) can be spent for items (b), (c) and (d) only. Here, one week means five working days.
ii) Food, transport and accommodation of course participants will be borne by the individual course participants themselves. Alternatively, it can be arranged by the course coordinator on payment basis separately (not as a part of registration fee) based on the prior request from the participants.
7. Payment to Foreign Experts: (
Annex IV)
Maximum honorarium for foreign expert faculty per lecture (1 hour duration) can be 250 USD. In any case, for
1 week course, maximum honorarium will be up to 3,000 USD or 5,000 USD for
2 Week Course. Tax to be deducted at source (minimum 12 %) on the honorarium part only.
Transaction should be made through bank transfer preferably.
Transaction charges payable to bank to be borne by this amount only.
If a foreign faculty is planning to deliver lecture in two courses or courses at different institutions during a single visit to India, in such cases it may be ensured that travel expenses are not paid twice or by both the institutions for the single journey performed by the foreign expert. However, domestic travel may be supported for moving from one Institute to another Institute. (vi) Use the
specific voucher (may be downloaded from local GIAN portal) for claiming the honorarium and TA for foreign expert/faculty.
8) Course Registration and Fee:
It is the responsibility of the course coordinator to make the necessary arrangements for the conduct of the courses. This includes call for participation, registration, selection of participants, collection of registration fee, contact and arrangements for national and international experts, arrangements for classes, accommodation, provision of certificates, conduct of examinations if any. Local coordinator and GIAN project staff would assist the course coordinator in this regard. The course coordinator should consult with the local coordinator for the creation of content and archival / maintenance of repository, linking with local GIAN portal which will be connected to the main GIAN portal, submission to National Digital Library, etc.
Under the GIAN budget, there is no separate provision for foods, transport and accommodation of participants.
9) Disbursement of Registration Fee:
Please note that under the GIAN budget there is no provision for honorarium for the course coordinator.
Feed Back from the foreign experts as well as course participants will be obtained after completion
of the course. Feedback form may be downloaded from the local GIAN portal.