Why in the News?

• Eight years after its inception, the Ministry of Education is gearing up to restart the fourth phase of the Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN).

What’s in Today’s Article?

• About GIAN (Aim, Objectives, Features, Significance, etc.)

About Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN):

• Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) in Higher Education was launched in 2015. It is a program of Ministry of Education.
• Aim: Tapping the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs internationally to encourage their engagement with the institutes of Higher Education in India.
  • This will help augment India’s existing academic resources, accelerate the pace of quality reform, and elevate India's scientific and technological capacity to global excellence.
• Objectives:
  • To improve the quality of higher education through international collaboration.
  • To increase the touch of reputed international faculty to Indian academic institutes.
  • To bring in International academic excellence in India's higher education institutions.
  • 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.
• Nodal Agency: IIT Kharagpur

Salient Features of GIAN:

• An honorarium is paid to the foreign experts to cover their travels and other expenses.
• Short term courses are conducted by these experts/faculties in Indian Institutions.
• This programme was first launched to establish collaboration between India and The United States of America, but later, the scope of the programme was extended.
• The duration of courses differ for different courses. The minimum duration is one week and the maximum duration is 3 weeks.
• A lump-sum amount of up to US$ 8000 (~ ₹7 lakh) for 12 to 14 hours of contact and up to US$ 12000 (~ ₹12 lakh) for 20 to 28 hours of contact can be paid to the foreign experts covering their travel and honorarium.

Significance of GIAN Programme:

• The Central government has spent at least ₹126 crore in payment to support foreign faculty’s travel and honorarium since the inception of GIAN.
• Since the beginning of the scheme in 2015-16, 1,612 foreign faculty members have visited the country to deliver courses from 59 countries.
• As many as 692 (39%) of 1,772 courses were delivered in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campuses, while the second largest cohort of lectures, 436 (24.6%), took place in the National Institute of Technology (NITs).
• Up to 41.4% (668) of academicians who visited India belonged to the U.S. The rest consisted of experts from the U.K. (143), Germany (93), Canada (89), etc. Up to 72,000 Indian students directly benefitted.