Thursday, August 6, 2009

Cabinet approves new pay scales

The Union Cabinet today approved the revision of pay scales of Faculty, Design & Scientific Staff and other academic staff of the Centrally funded institutions. The Cabinet also approved giving financial assistance to States for implementing the above revised scales.

Update in the morning: The newspapers report it.

21 comments:

Dada said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

This is good news

Anonymous said...

can any body tell me as to whether Assistant professor scale (old)12000-18300 will be placed in PB3 or PB4. Will there be a waiting period of 3 years? if yes, are only 3 increments necessary or three years necessary after joining, for new entrants?

Atreya, IISC said...

According to the Mehta report, a person with Ph.D and 5 years of "post-Ph.D" experience will be placed in PB-4. So I guess even if you had 3 years post-doc, but have now completed 2 years after joining as faculy, you should get into PB-4. Experts: please correct me if I am wrong.

Giri@iisc said...

You have to wait for the notification from MHRD to know whether Assistant professor will be placed in PB-4. According to the goverdhan mehta committee report, for PB-4, one needs either 5 years post-ph.d OR 3 years as assistant professor. It is either this or that.

The faculty associations have recommended that it should be either 3 years post-Ph.D.

Let us see what MHRD agrees to.

Thanks

Giridhar

Anonymous said...

The Mehta committee has very clearly specified that for the three tier structure, lectures, assistant professors and professors (old scale) shall be redesignated as assistant professor, associate professor and professor respectively in the new scale. That implies, if a person has been directly recruited as assistant professor (old scale) would automatically be called associate professor (new scale) The associate professor designation has no place in PB3 as they are placed in PB4.
The 5 years post doc exp is applicable for new recruitments after the implementation of the pay scale (I presume).
Of course, this is my optimistic interpretation. Experts pleasse comment.

Anonymous said...

tech education hierarchy

http://telegraphindia.com/1090808/jsp/nation/story

Anonymous said...

sorry folks for the incomplete link

tech educayion hierarchy

http://telegraphindia.com/1090808/jsp/nation/story_11335505.jsp

Anonymous said...

When will the actal scales come to teachers aftr cabinet approval?

Anonymous said...

Giridhar: If a person joins as assistant professor after 4 years of post-doc and has completed 1 year as assistant professor, will he be considered having 5 years post-phd? Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Professor--
I recently finished my PhD and have received an (Assistant Professor) offer from one of the new IITs. The offer letter says that the "pay will be fixed in the pay scale of 12000-420-18300 (Pre-revised) as per rules plus three increments."

My question is simply this -- what will my take home salary be under the new pay scale?

Thank you in advance.

-- Prospective IITian

Anonymous said...

please read previous blog posts.

http://giridharmadras.blogspot.com/2009/05/faculty-positions-in-india.html

http://giridharmadras.blogspot.com/2009/03/pay-scales-in-iisc.html

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the links. I am still confused I'm afraid. My best estimate is that I'll get around 55k per month if I don't live on campus, and around 44k if I do. Are these numbers correct?

Giri@iisc said...

yes, around that.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Professor. Your blog has been a big help.

Anonymous said...

Dear Professor:

I've a few more questions for you (or your elite readers). I apologize if this is not the right place for this post.

Like I wrote in my post above, I recently got an offer for the post of Assistant Professor from a new IIT and I've sent them my acceptance (via email). However, what bothers me is that there's not much that I know about the exact nature of the job; and other than your wonderful blog there's precious little information on the internet. A quick google search of "IIT Faculty Handbook" takes me to Illinois Institute of Technology's Faculty Handbook. I found an informal one for IIT Madras which was very good, but that's about it.

I'm a fresh PhD from an American university and have returned to India after eight years. My questions may seem mundane to those who have been living and working at the IITs for a while, but I am completely out of touch with the work culture here. I was a B.Tech. student here, but then I never really thought about it from the faculty's point of view.

For starters, I haven't been told when I'll be expected to start -- tomorrow, next week, next semester? About the job itself, I want to know what subjects I'll be expected to teach, how many? I've heard that once you are assigned a course to teach, you are pretty much in total control -- including the course content and the evaluation process. This sounds too good to be true, is it?

What about my research -- will I have absolute freedom and control over what I do (within limits of rationality, of course)? Or -- being a lowly Assistant Professor -- will I have a "boss," who will be watching every move I make? Is there some kind of hierarchy in the department -- e.g. Professors are the bosses of Associate Professors, who in turn are bosses of the Assistant Professors? Sorry if this sounds silly, but it'll be good to know these things before I take the plunge. What kind of startup funding will I get for my lab? I think this may vary from one school to another, but I don't even know what the general range is -- about 10-15 lakh ruppees?

What will the living conditions be like -- considering that it's a new IIT with no permanent campus of it's own. Will I get on-campus housing at the temporary campus? Will there be a lot of traveling from home to school everyday?

And millions of questions like these -- which I'm embarrassed to ask even on an online blog.

I don't expect all my questions to be answered here since some of them are probably very specific to the particular job I have and to the particular school. I think my real point is that I shouldn't have to go to an online blog looking for these simple answers. Isn't there a standard Faculty Handbook which documents things like these? Don't you think that the new IIT should inform me about these things on their own? Or am I expecting too much? I'm not sure if it's okay to ask these questions to my HOD since the offer is still very "fresh." Is it inappropriate if I send an email asking these questions? I'm afraid of coming across as too pushy or impatient.

Furthermore, when I went to the interview there was absolutely no information given to us about the school or the department -- I was expecting some kind of a "pre-placement talk," but that didn't happen. We were ushered into the room one by one, interviewed and that was that. How about letting us ask some questions of our own? How are we supposed to make a decision about whether we want to work there or not?

Thank you again for your help and guidance.

Giri@iisc said...

Your questions and my responses:

>For starters, I haven't been told >when I'll be expected to start -- >tomorrow, next week, next >semester?

You are expected to give a joining date within six months of the offer letter. You start when you decide to.


>About the job itself, I want to >know what subjects I'll be >expected to teach, how many? I've >heard that once you are assigned a >course to teach, you are pretty ?>much in total control -- including >the course content and the >evaluation process. This sounds >too good to be true, is it?

In IISc, we ask new faculty to teach one course per year. The choice of the course is left to the new faculty. IITs normally ask faculty to teach 2 courses and 1 lab per year. Depends on the department.

The course content and the evaluation is entirely with the instructor. No one will interfere to any great extent.

>What about my research -- will I >have absolute freedom and control >over what I do (within limits of >rationality, of course)?

You will have absolute freedom and control.


>Or -- being a lowly Assistant >Professor -- will I have a "boss," >who will be watching every move I >make?

Not at all. However, freedom has problems too. I have been telling the big bosses that each department should have a mentoring committee who will meet with faculty every year or so and help him/her. Currently, the faculty is completely independent but does not know how to apply for funding, what the procedures to place an order are etc. Of course, colleagues always help but it very informal.

>Is there some kind of hierarchy in >the department -- e.g. Professors >are the bosses of Associate >Professors, who in turn are bosses >of the Assistant Professors?

No, certainly not.

>my lab? I think this may vary from >one school to another, but I don't >even know what the general range >is -- about 10-15 lakh ruppees?

It is around 10-15 lakhs in good IITs. IISc gives up to 20 or even 25. IIT-Hyderabad etc will give even more money.

Read the links on

http://giridharmadras.blogspot.com/2009/05/faculty-positions-in-india.html

>What will the living conditions be >like -- considering that it's a >new IIT with no permanent campus >of it's own. Will I get on-campus >housing at the temporary campus? >Will there be a lot of traveling >from home to school everyday?

Depending on which IIT you are talking about.

>these simple answers. Isn't there >a standard Faculty Handbook which >documents things like these?

No.

>happen. We were ushered into the >room one by one, interviewed and ?>that was that. How about letting >us ask some questions of our own?

In fact, the chairman of the department should do that. But then you can always consult colleagues or friends or an online blog :-)

Anonymous said...

Dear Professor:

Thank you for your prompt and detailed response -- that helps me a lot. I should have mentioned in my message that the IIT I'm talking about is IIT Hyderabad -- good to know that IITH has more money to offer for setting up individual labs.

You bring up an excellent point about the need to find a happy medium between absolute freedom at one end of the spectrum and excessive mentoring at the other.

Meeting with a mentoring committee once a year sounds like that medium. And since IITH as a whole is being mentored by IITM I hope we newbies at IITH will have that much more support from the masters, compared to say people who join the more established IITs.

Another thing that makes me happy after reading your response is the fact that I'll most likely be teaching two courses during my first year (and a lab) which comes down to one course per semester which won't be too much to handle -- especially if I get to pick the course too.

Thank you once again for your time; it feels good to get to know these things straight from the horse's mouth!

Giri@iisc said...

IIT-H used to advertise on their website that the start up funding is likely to be around a crore.

http://nanopolitan.blogspot.com/2009/05/iit-h.html

The course load that I mentioned is typical. Some faculty teach more.

I think you can ask these two questions (startup funding and teaching load in the first year) to the head of the department. You can say that you would like to prepare for the course(s) that you are likely to teach. Startup funding can also tell you what research projects you can start.

Giridhar

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the links, Sir. I'm reading up everything I can get my eyes on. I'll also take your advice and email the chair of my department the two questions -- start up funding and courses I would be likely to teach. Start-up funding (potentially) up to Rs 1,00,00,000 -- very exciting times!

Anonymous said...

A news report on what the cabinet has approved:
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090819/jsp/frontpage/story_11380204.jsp