Few takers for government's flagship PM Research fellowship at IITs, IISc

NEW DELHI: Government’s flagship PM Research fellowship scheme for PhDs at IITs and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore which had been touted as a measure to check brain drain of "brightest engineering minds" from premier institutes has been met with lukewarm response.

Official figures available with the human resource development ministry show that only 678 students have applied with their projects against 1000 fellowships on offer despite the deadline being extended once.

Sources in the ministry said that while a total of 2807 students had registered—only one fourth translated into actual applications till April 9. The deadline for the application ends on April 13.

The scheme, first announced in the Union budget this year, invited application from the engineering graduates from IITs, IISc, National Institutes of Technology, Indian Institute of Information Technology and Indian Institutes of Science Research and Education. 

The scheme promises up to Rs 80,000 stipend to about 1000 students apart from Rs 2 lakh annual research grant and urges them to come up with research idea in subjects such as artificial intelligence, nanotechnology- among several others- with clear deliverables and outcomes.

The scheme is meant only for students who have the Cumulative Grade Point Average upward of 8.

A senior official in the higher education department of the HRD ministry said that the ministry “hopes to get more applicants” on last two days.

“We want the projects to be good even if less than 1000 fellowships are offered. Also, this year placement season in IITs was over by the time applications were invited so that explains fewer than expected applications,” he said. “We hope that the scheme will pick up from next year.”

Students at IITs meanwhile pointed out that unlike the undergraduate programmes at IITs, PhDs are considered less "prestigious".

“Only about 200-300 students from IITs prefer to do PhDs at IITs while most prefer to go abroad for better exposure and academic experience,” said a final year Computer Science student at IIT, Delhi.

“And for students who want to pursue doctoral or post-doctoral degrees foregoing the option of high-paying jobs, money is not very high on the priority list nor is what is being offered by the government very compelling.”

Government data shows that every year about 20 per cent brightest minds from premium engineering and technology institutes leave country either for jobs or higher studies.