No data on IIT graduates going abroad, ministry says committed to retaining students

NEW DELHI: The minister of education told the Lok Sabha today that the government is committed to retain the students passing out from the premier educational institutions such as Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in our country.

In a written reply, the minister of state (MoS) for education, Subhas Sarkar informed that at present 23 IITs are functioning in the country and in the academic year 2022-23, a total of 25,237 students were declared pass.

The ministry did not provide any data related to the number of IIT students who have gone abroad during the last five years. However, it said that “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”.

The minister further informed Lok Sabha about the Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship scheme. Under the fellowship, a maximum of Rs 55 lakh per scholar, including annual research grant, in five years is offered to selected students to pursue PhD in Indian universities or institutes “so as to retain talent in the country”.

The Government has also sanctioned establishment of research parks at IITs - Madras, Bombay, Kharagpur, Kanpur, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Gandhinagar and Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc) Bangalore to augment the research ecosystem in the country, he said.

Further, Global Initiative for Academic Network (GIAN) has been implemented which “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”.

On the other hand, 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, the ministry informed.