Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Pinned post for prospective faculty to IITs/IISc

This is a pinned post (i.e., this post will always appear at the top of this blog though newer posts appear below it) for prospective faculty to IITs/IISc. 

Please, please read this site and the old posts, here, here, here and here. There are over 1100 comments and replies to these comments in these posts. Read them carefully before you post here. 

  If you require an answer to your question, post it with a name, initials, pseudonym or anything that is distinguishable.

255 comments:

1 – 200 of 255   Newer›   Newest»
S said...

First post, generic queries!

1) How old you were when R2I (Returned to India) for an academic position?
2) How many years of post-doctoral experience you had?

s1 said...

Any one with any news on DST Inspire faculty scheme?

Chris said...

I got an email from INSA asking me to make a personal presentation next month for Inspire faculty scheme.
Few questions,
(1) I have an offer from an IIT and am planning to join there next year. Is Inspire fellowship only for people looking for jobs or can it be availed after having a confirmed offer (similar to Ramanujan, Ramalingaswami, etc.)? FYI, when I applied for Inspire, I did not have an offer.
(2) When I checked the guidelines once again yesterday, Inspire fellows will get 7 lakhs per annum for 5 years and the fellowship amount will be equivalent to the scale of an asst. prof. at IITs. This sounds good and better than Ramanujan fellowship, where a fellow get only 5 lakhs per annum for the same 5 years and a fixed amount of 75k per month. Am I missing something here about Ramanujan fellowship (which is more prestigeous/popular, less number of awards, perhaps more stringent selection criteria)?

Giri@iisc said...

Ramanujam is more prestigious because there are supposed to fewer awards and the amount for fellowship is also higher (75 k). Because many IITs provide free accommodation and medical benefits and 75 k is extra, it exceeds the total earnings of an assistant professor.

Inspire is meant to be like tenure track and you can get that fellowship even if you do not have a "permanent" position, which is why the grant is higher than Ramanujam.

Anonymous said...

Can one get Ramanujan and Inspire research grants simultaneously?

iitmsriram said...

C'mon, folks, read the instructions for the fellowships. Just a few lines after "7 lakhs per year for 5 years", INSPIRE clearly states that if you get a permanent position, the fellowship will stop from the day you join this but you can continue to avail the the 7 lakhs per year. Similarly, the Ramanujan fellowship clearly states that recipients would have to opt for this fellowship or other salary / fellowship.

Anonymous said...

Anybody heard about IIT-kgp interviews recently?

Anonymous said...

@anon, October 21, 2011 5:24 PM:

I got the call from an Engineering
dept at IIT-KGP. The interview is in
the second week of Nov.

skg

AP said...

Anyone appeared for interview by selection committee at IIT KGP through SKYPE? How is the experience and any hints/advice?

Anonymous said...

Has anyone got the interview call from the Mechanical Engineering department, IIT Kharagpur..

GR

BBS said...

I got a call form IIT BBS!

Anonymous said...

Happy Diwali to All.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone have any information on the Performance Related Incentive Scheme (PRIS) for IIXs? I understand that DAE has already implemented it a long time ago, based on 6-PC recommendations. Does that mean that BARC employees are getting PRIS benefits?

Anonymous said...

@Prof Sriram (IITM),
When is the next recruitment in IIT Madras?

Also, we did not see in IIT M website about the department wise criteria for selection of candidates and the list of selected candidates in the last selection process in May2011. If I remember correctly, you once wrote in this blog that these information will be published in the IITM website....

S said...

I got a personal-interview call from DST/INSA for INSPIRE faculty scheme. Since I am living abroad, I have requested them for a Skype interview. But I have not heard anything from them (its been a week). As the last date to confirm my participation is very close, I am worried about the delay. Anyone out there travelling the same boat? Any advice??

Chris said...

@ S,
I too wrote a mail to INSA asking about the possibility for Skype interview, but hadn't heard back anything even after a week. I am planning to visit in person as I do not want to lose the opportunity, as this will be my last one (32 years).

rishisai said...

Hi friends,

I applied for Inspire faculty scheme (direct Mode). But haven't received any call for interview or prestn. I am bit worried. I received the acknowledgement letter and it was mentioned that 'ur proposal will be considered by an expert committee sometime in November and decision will be intimated in due course'. So am I expecting a call early or do I have to wait for more time. Frds anyone who applied may give some suggestions. Do I have to write to insa?

Anonymous said...

@Rishisai

Maybe you should try to contact them...

I just now tried to call INSA office (http://insaindia.org/secre.htm) and both INSPIRE related staffs are on leave!

rishisai said...

thank u friend for replying. I too tried to call them but couldn't reach them. I am in abroad and I don't know the extention number. If anyone knows it please post the number.

Anonymous said...

I too called from abroad. I waited for the line to go to an assistant. Then the assistant asked me to call on Monday as both INSPIRE related staffs or on leave...

rishisai said...

I'll also call them on Monday. Hope for he best.

Anonymous said...

Here's the joke of the year:
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-10-28/news/30332770_1_iit-b-iit-gandhinagar-faculty-members

I have recently accepted a faculty position with one of the IIXs in the article. But my overall experience showed almost no urgency on Institute's part as is evident in this article.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

@anon above: That news seems bogus to me. Were you offered any higher salary? I was told that IITs are not allowed to pay more than what the govt mandates and there is no room for any subjective judgement. If the IITs were offering any higher salaries, wouldn't they say it clearly on their advertisements?

The IITGn number of 85-90k also seems either falsified or produced by some sleight-of-hand like including LTC in the calculations. It is also not compatible with what is said on the IITGn website.

Vimal Mishra said...

Hi Ankur,

I have recently accepted the faculty position at IIT Gandhinagar. It seems that the data (salary) presented in Economics Times is not bogus or fake. For deserving candidates (this may be for everyone), IIT Gn provides additional 15000/month as the research excellence fellowship that can be renewed for three years. Thus, gross salary adds up about 15000 higher than what someone can expect in other IITs (given that they do not have similar fellowship in place) You can get the details about the benefits on http://iitgn.ac.in/pdf/IITGN_FAQs_ProspectiveFaculty.pdf. I have had a very good experience with their selection process as they were very responsive and fast.

Chris said...

@anon,
Thanks for sharing the Economic Times article. I have no doubt that the directors of IITs have great vision for their institutions and want to attract best quality faculty.

However, they may need to first consider hiring good or at least OK administrative staffs that can respond to emails from prospective faculty candidates. Many a times, it happened to me (perhaps also for other candidates) that there is either no reply for emails or no appropriate/precise answers for the questions posed in the mail. Although I understand that they may have other 'important' tasks to do, they can at least pay a bit more attention to read the mail/questions and reply appropriately.

Sorry for the criticism. This is just my opinion. Let us not get into a debate.

Anonymous said...

@Chris:

Some of the things you have to get used to, when you interact with government employees (most IIX faculty excluded) in your future job, are:

1. People will not pick up their telephones. There is no provision for voice-mail.

2. People will not respond to emails.

3. There is no "official" web-site with the information you need. If you find a web-site, the proportion of useful to useless information is about 20:80 ( Pareto Khush Hua! .

4. Senior level govt. officials usually respond to emails, and copy their minions. The minions never reply, even if you email them multiple times.

5. In the Indian government, the best way to function is by gathering information by word of mouth, talking to others who have "been there, done that" or making mistakes and learning the rules.

6. If you make too many mistakes with rules etc., you may not succeed at what you do. But there, comes the best part of working for the Indian Government: You don't really have to do anything useful. Officially, the annual raise for a total slacker is 3% and a nobel laureate is 4%.

5. Money does not give you job satisfaction. After quite some time in an IIX, I don't know what job satisfaction you can get, if sitting on your behind and doing nothing is NOT your definition for a "dream job".

6. Our system is built for mediocrity and failure. Success is accidental, and the next time around, they take adequate measures to ensure that it does not happen again.

7. Apply to US/Canadian/European universities while you are applying to IIXs. Coming back to India for family etc. is noble, but you have to make sure that your own long term needs are addressed as well.

IIX_prof

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Thanks for the clarification Vimal. I take my statement back.

Anonymous said...

In IISC, during summer if a faculty member works for 2 months and takes the third month off (for vacation) does he accrue zero EL or is it 20 ELs (he has worked for 2 months).

Anonymous said...

20 EL

Anonymous said...

DST/INSA INSPIRE reg:-
I had applied for Inspire faculty scheme (direct Mode). I came to know from the website that shortlisted candidates have been intimated for a personal interview/presentation. But I haven't received any intimation yet. I am a bit tensed. I received an acknowledgement letter and mentioning that the proposal will be considered by an expert committee sometime in November and decision will be intimated in due course'. So am I expecting a call early or do I have to wait for more time. I wrote to INSA. But didn't get any repsonse. Please give some suggestions.

Anonymous said...

I phoned DST/INSA regarding INSPIRE faculty scheme. They told, they have already intimated all those who have been shortlisted. It was told that there will be 1000faculty positions/year. So more than 1000 candidates have been shortlisted and intimated??? Does it mean that those who have n't got any intimation yet, are out from the INSPIRE scheme!!!!! Feel really disappointed......

Anonymous said...

Is it because that we applied via direct mode?

Chris said...

@anons,
Indeed I am also surprised that only few have been shortlisted for INSPIRE interview, although there are 1000 positions. I was earlier thinking that they might have shortlisted only chemical sciences, as some of my friends, who have very good CV (in my opinion) in Physics have not heard anything from INSPIRE. But it seems that is not the case.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know whether all the shortlisted candidates have been informed? Or will there more lists? Am really tensed...

Anonymous said...

Sir,
Regarding DST-INSPIRE...

Can we expect an interview call after some days?

Is this the list of a particular group of candidates ... like those applied under either direct / nomination / instution mode....

is this the list of candidates applied under a specific subject category?

Have they informed all the 1000 candidates...?????

If so ... is there any waiting list of candidates... if in case these candidates did not join, will the others be considered???

Anonymous said...

I made a call now to the INSA office. It turns out that they have called 25 candidates from Chemical Science for interview on 23 Nov 2011.

I also asked about the possibility of Skype interview. I was told that they are negotiating with DST for permission and for technical support to conduct interview via Skype. If they get the permission, these Skype interviews will not be held on the normal interview date but sometime in December. The final results are expected by year end.

Since it was my first call to a government of India office, I must say, contrary to my expectations, the person on the other end was both warm and understanding.

Anonymous said...

@anons
Only 25? Any idea about the 1000 positions that was offered? Will the others be considered after this 25 candidates? I had applied in Life Sciences and am not included in the shortlisted candidates. A bit worried and depressed too...

Anonymous said...

25 in chemical sciences only. there are about 6 broad disciplines.

Anonymous said...

the list of candidates short listed for INSA/INSPIRE can be found:

http://insaindia.org/inspire/inspire.htm#

Anonymous said...

@anons
Even then it counts only 150!

rishisai said...

Reg Inspire faculty scheme
;
Dear frds,

Today i called to INSA and am shocked and disappointed that I haven't been shortlisted (DIRECT MODE). I submitted my PhD from an imperial university abroad and have good publications including Nature and several other high rated journals. I wanted to share my pain with all. I am really surprised, what could be their criteria. My CV is strong and has all the desirable qualifications. They didn't even inform me and I was waiting for their call; It was until I called them. They said only 43 candidates are shortlisted in Life Sciences and didnt know how many would reach until final. Out of 1000 fellowships the direct mode candidates won't even get 50. ridiculous.. If they have to select only candidates thru institution mode they why should they advts direct mode and fill hopes.. I am really hurt.

Anonymous said...

@rishisai
Same is the case with me too... I too applied under DIRECT MODE in life sciences. I too expected a lot. Feel very depressed. I saw the shortlisted candidates at INSA site. Many who have less number of publications than me have been shortlisted!!!!! Can anything be done in this regard???? God knows if we are the 44th candidate!!!!!!!!!! I would have got permission from the University/institute if they had shortlisted me!!!!! This is not at allllllll fair!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

@giri@iisc

Reg. INSPIRE faculty

Sir,
Can u help us in this regard? There are 1000 fellowships. Then y r we disqualified? We do have a strong CV with good publications, both in terms of impact factor and number. We are disqualified just because we applied under direct mode? We would be grateful if you could do something in this regard. Please Sir..

Anonymous said...

Why are you asking Giri@iisc? Who is he to help you? He is not even a fellow of INSA or any other academy. Just because he writes a blog or publishes a few papers, he is not anything in Indian science.

The way you write in SMS language, I really doubt that you have publications in high impact journals, which are not written by your supervisor.

Sanjeev
iisc

Anonymous said...

Reg. INSPIRE faculty

Does anyone know when they are going to display the selected list from the Institutions Mode.

Anonymous said...

@anons

Is there any separate list for the institution mode applicants? I thought this is the final list..

Anonymous said...

mostly, since the last date was Oct 31st.

Anonymous said...

This is rediculous!!!!!!!!!!!.I think we should go for RTI.Most of the selected candidates are nominated by the apex committee members.

rishisai said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rishisai said...

Friends.
Reg: Inspire Faculty scheme:

This is really very unfair. Is this India's call for Indian talent? After seeing the shortlisted candidates and their proposals, publications, I think someone should be behind us otherwise we'll not be cared atleast, no matter u have Nature papers. If this is the case why should they call for direct mode candts. ridiculous, ridiculous....

Anonymous said...

I went throught the list of applied candidates. There are about 500 application under direct & nomination mode. Even if they select all the 500 candidates there will 500 more positions for the institution mode fellows. I am pretty sure that almost all the 500candidates applied under direct /nomination will be eligible candidates. Even i had all the eligible and desirable qualification with an aggregate ipact factor of more than 10, first rank n all... Then y this discrimination when there are enough positions?

Anonymous said...

How did you get the applied candidates list ?

Anonymous said...

Not all the details of applied candidates. But the number of applied candidates. Its in INSA site. Out of 486 applied they have shortlisted 138.

Anonymous said...

What is the expected amount of fellowship for INSPIRE faculty?

Anonymous said...

It is not 1000 posts. It is 1000 fellowships for five years. Therefore, there is a maximum of 200 fellowships per year. But in the first year, less than 100 will be awarded.

Anonymous said...

@anons
In the website it is given "The Scheme provides a provision of maximum 1000 INSPIRE Faculty positions per year subject
to rigorous and transparent criteria basis met by the potential aspirants". How can it be 200/year?

Anonymous said...

Perhaps if we all write INSA/INSPIRE emails asking for the criteria of short listing, they may consider publishing them.

The criteria which can be easily compared among the candidates of a given branch of science are: age (27-32), university rank, IIT-JEE/GATE rank, CSIR/UGC-JRF fellows, SPM fellowship, and other awards...

Additionally there are some criteria which can separate applications only qualitatively. For example, the originality and relevance of the project, quality of the proposal write up, feasibility of the idea and so on.

The above parameters were most likely judged by the members of the subject wise selection committee. Most likely these members were given a few of the applications from their field of research to evaluate. As we know, this evaluation differs from person to person and there is very little one can do if the member of the selection committee does not think highly of the proposal. Unfortunately, at times it becomes arbitrary.

Therefore, we may request them to reveal the marks/points/grades/remarks(yes or no) of the selection committee members on the individual projects. This will, at least, help one to know where to improve.

Anonymous said...

Will they reconsider us this year itself, atleast after selecting all those who have already been shortlisted?

Anonymous said...

Any improvement in DST-INSA INSPIRE faculty shortlisted candidates? Did anyone enquire about it?

Anonymous said...

Some observations:

1) Most of these DST fellowships (INSPIRE, Ramanujan, etc) do not send the proposals to national/international experts for peer review. They are judged only by a panel of members for a particular subject (chemistry, life sciences etc.). I think sending each proposal for a rigorous peer review (similar to Marie Curie/Wellcome Trust/EPSRC/Royal Society fellowships) is the only way to move forward.

2) The referee reports and the score from peer review should be given to all the candidates. DST might not gain much from this exercise, but it builds goodwill and genuinely helps the candidates. Ideally, the broad judging criteria should be listed when advertisements are put up.

3) It is absolutely a shame that even today DST asks for 10 paper copies for some applications! Why can't they have an online application system? If there are no programmers at DST, they can at least outsource it to one of the software companies in India.

-Nemo

Ankur Kulkarni said...

@Nemo Good points! Is there no alternative to DST and more generally the govt for fellowships or funding?

Anonymous said...

Did anyone called INSA/DST regarding INSPIRE? Can't they add some more positions to the direct mode applicants?

Anonymous said...

To many annoying anonymous people above:

I got selected for the interview by applying through direct mode. I checked the list of decision makers and I don't know anyone in that list.

One advise to the losers here: try to improve your proposal writing skills, apply young, and do independent research. Having X Nature papers is no proof that you are a genius. It SHOULD be counted as ZERO contribution if you are the nth author in each of these papers. Also, if you were an idiot throughout the life (i.e., you chose biology because you couldn't get into engineering, medical, physics, math after school) and suddenly got two Nature papers through your famous postdoctoral advisor, don't expect anything in return. The Indian scientists have finally started understanding that the publication list of "foreign phds/postdocs" is highly inflated and they don't have the capacity to do anything independent. You left the country for money, spent years after years there as a slave/boot-licker of your fair-skinned phd/postdoc advisor and now don't complain! Stay there as a slave.

Anonymous said...

Any one with any news on DST fast track young scientist scheme? Does anyone knows when was the last expert committe meeting held in life sciences or when is it going to be held?

Anonymous said...

@Ankur

Unfortunately I am not aware of any funding opportunity that does not have a govt. component. Bilateral fellowships with funding agencies of other countries also require you to apply through one of the Indian govt. agencies.

-Nemo

Anonymous said...

@Prof Sriram:

Could you tell us when the next round of interviews for asst. profs will be conducted at IIT Madras.

RGV

iitmsriram said...

@RGV,

Next round of interviews at IITM is likely to be around April next year. I have still not got around to putting up the shortlisting norms and other information from the last round of recruitments at the IITM web site, that should happen soon.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Does anyone have interviews scheduled for IITB? When are they likely to be?

SKR said...

Hi,
Recently IIT R advertised for 215 faculty positions.So can we expect minimum 10 positions from each department or how that number will be distributed?. Thanks for your help.

Anonymous said...

It appears from the comments that applicants often want to know if anyone else received a call letter for interview from IIX.

IMO, it could be of help if we create a wikipage and link to this blog or the website developed by Prof Madras where one can create a table with rows indicating departments/subjects (mech engg., elec engg., maths, chemi etc) and columns indicating IIX institute. People using this blog, when get any call letters or interview date, can fill in the table.

Chris said...

It would be great if any (or many) of the INSPIRE candidates for physical sciences share their interview experiences here. Thanks in advance!

Anonymous said...

@Prof Sriram:

In the fresh standing advertisement for Asst Profs at IITM age limit (35yrs) is not mentioned. Have you done away with that..

RGV

iitmsriram said...

@RGV,

On the first page of the ad under the experience heading, it says (in block letters!) "Candidates preferably should be below 35 years of age". It is only a soft limit and hence this statement is also appropriately "soft".

Anonymous said...

Can someone tell me how is IIT Mandi?

Anonymous said...

heard horrible from people who are working in mandi

Anonymous said...

I am personally skeptical of any institutes that haven't built their campus yet and are struggling at generic administrative stuff. They have to prove to potential faculty and to the world that they are at least able to do these 101-level basics right. Without that it is difficult to trust the quality of the people and the seriousness behind the vision. These institutes come off more like some UGs who can't solve simple homework problems but want to do some grand projects and what not.

Anonymous said...

As true as it gets about what the previous poster mentioned - I am just wondering is there a possibility for a fresh hire with an open mind who tries to grow professionally along with the growth of such a new organization; or does it sound too much Desi filmy?

Anonymous said...

@Prof Sriram:

Do you consider an applicant in the next round of interviews if he/she failed in the recently finished interviews and wished to apply again.

Anonymous said...

@Prof Sriram:

In continuation of the above post of mine, I like to know if one can apply to the same dept again in the very next notification having been rejected once.

rgv

Anonymous said...

Amongst the new IITs, Gandhinagar and Hyderabad are doing pretty ok.

Anonymous said...

The following article may be of interest to those considering new IIXs.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/education/new-iits-iims-face-bureaucratic-hurdles-causing-hardship-to-students/articleshow/10775976.cms?curpg=1

iitmsriram said...

OK, several replies in one shot.

It is very rare for a new institution not to have starting up problems. Mandi is as good or as bad as any of the other new IITs - I would not subscribe to these anonymous 'horrible, I heard' stories. If anyone has a specific problem with any of the new IIXs, they should just go up to the Director and sort it out. These are all small institutions as of now and the Directors can be expected to personally sort out these initial issues that crop up. But dont expect Directors to blatantly violate government rules and policies. In the case of IIT Mandi, I will be happy to personally mediate, if needed - please email me privately.

Many have written about joining new institutions - its a pioneer's thing. It will be hard work, casualties are likely, but then you get the chance to participate in the building of something new, to significantly influence and contribute to the Institutional character. If you join an old IIX, there are some 500 faculty members there already, including a couple hundred full profs. Whats the chance they will listen to green assistant professors' opinions and ideas - all these old coots (me included) think we know better and there are actually a large number who DO know better. But then, the set up is already chugging along, so you can just see where you and your work can fit in and just go about it, leaving the running of the institution to others. It comes down to a personal choice, old or new, which way one wants to go. It is not all just desi filmy.

Every advertisement and selection is independent, so being turned down once may not mean anything. If I remember correct, our illustrious host (Bhatnagar award winner and all) did not get in on the first attempt. If the rejection was because of mis-match of area, these requirements change with time, so things can change very much in the next round. If the rejection one time was because some achievement / performance norm was not met, obviously, unless the candidate has subsequently achieved the norm, rejection can be expected next time around also. Norms and expectations are always moving upward, so one could meet the norm one time and fall short a year or two later, if one has not been keeping up the activity level.

Anonymous said...

Don't give much importance to Giri being turned down by the chemical engineering of IISc for the first time. He might be even turned down now if he applies afresh ! The reason I saying so that recently a Bhatnagar awardee from another institution applied to the chemical engineering department of IISc for a position and was promptly turned down. However, if one has a reasonably good record, if he/she does not get in IISc/IITM, they may get in one of the IIT.

old_iisc_prof

Ankur Kulkarni said...

I had a question for iitmsriram: One often hears this term: "flexible cadre system" which is applicable in IITs. Could you explain what this means and what is flexible about it?

It is amply demonstrated that one does not gain much financially by getting promoted early in IITs; thanks to the usual increments too. And there is no negotiable or flexible pay either. Is the flexibility referred to merely the epsilon-flexibility that allows early promotions?

iitmsriram said...

@Ankur Kulkarni,

Flexible cadre system means that the number of assistant professors or associate professors or professors is not fixed, only the total may be. This is to be contrasted with the University system where the number of professor, associate professor and assistant professor posts are all fixed. So, a department might have x ass profs, y asso profs and z profs for a total sanctioned strength of x+y+z. In fixed cadre, vacancies are per cadre. If there are already z profs in the department, no matter how good you are, you are not going to become prof unless one of the z profs retires / resigns / pops off. This has been partially addressed by the concept of substantive posts (so the z+1 person can be called a prof but not counted against the z and so on).

Academic (research) performance does not itself bring much financial rewards in IIX - you may get the 15k per month fellowship and stuff (which is like 15% of profs salary) but thats about it. If you want to make more money in academics, you need to take on consulting projects, start companies / get on boards of companies and such. Why bother about quick promotions - the maximum salary that a prof can get as of now is 79000 basic = 1.3 lakhs a month (+ about 24 K HRA), so that is a hard upper bound.

Anonymous said...

if you get swarnajayanthi+bhatnagar +jc bose, you can get 25 + 15 + 20 = 60 K per month.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

@iitmsriram Actually as a game-theorist, this strikes me as a foolishly designed system. There is incentive to do things (e.g., consultancy) other than those that will improve the research output of the IITs. All this even while everyone wants to improve rankings and PhD output.

I actually wrote to someone in HRD and UGC about this, asking them specifically two things. One - what is the logic for designing such a lopsided system? And two - there is ample evidence now that in the case of highly skilled sectors salaries should not be fixed at the industry level but at the firm level. The firm must decide the pay for specific personnel based on its capabilities, plans and needs. This applies to sports, arts, top management, administration, research etc, where each person is a unique product and therefore has a unique price. Not just faculty, all highly skilled people, including top IAS cadres, should have flexibility in their pay. I can understand teachers - whose only job/skill is to teach - having a fixed pay; but faculty whose jobs are so open ended - they are primarily researchers, mentors and managers of projects worth crores - deserve flexible pay.

The answer I got was that they appreciate my concern and that the govt is discussing about this and there is hope for the best.

Chris said...

@Ankur,

I completely agree with your point on flexible pay for the deserving faculty.

I am very surprised by the fact that you got a reply from HRD and UGC personnel for your question.

Anonymous said...

Chris,

if you get swarnajayanthi+bhatnagar +jc bose, you can get 25 + 15 + 20 = 60 K per month.

A prof in iitm gets around Rs. 1.3 lakhs per month. The above is nearly 50% extra.

iitmsriram said...

You can't get JC Bose (which is 25K now) + anything else, it is against the fellowship rules. In the last 3 years, a total of 3 IISc and 3 IITx folks have got Swarnajayanthi, so this is not a viable supplementary income avenue for most. There is also another 15K per month scheme - for fellows of two national academies and this cannot be combined with the Bhatnagar fellowship. Kakodkar committee has suggested flexible salaries, we have to wait and see if it happens.

Anonymous said...

you can combine

JC Bose/Ramanujam/Swarnajayanthi with Bhatnagar fellowship. Thus you can get maximum of 40 K. The host of this blog is an example of this.

iisc_prof

Ankur Kulkarni said...

@Chris: I guess I got a reply because I didnt try to assert any elitism of faculty or IITs. My argument was based on sound HR policy - and the acknowledgement that it applies not only to faculty but to all hires at a certain level, including the guys I was writing to! :)

My general feeling is that GoI must be struggling with getting talent not just to faculty jobs, but also for top jobs in PSUs, DRDO labs, NHAI etc. Remember it is not just IITs that rank low - today most govt establishments would rank low in their global peer group (Air India, local municipal corporations, e.g.). We are now squarely in the era where specialists are needed to take all these establishments to the next level. And specialists would demand a certain price.

Yesterday I did some research about how flexibility in pay is ensured in the US university system. There is a usual increment of 3% each year. Performance gives you an extra 1.5% - that's all. There is a fixed jump from asst to asso to prof. Any other increment is based on the funding one brings in or if one is a member of some academy - about 6-7%. If you get huge sums - about O(10^6)- in funding, you get about between 6-10% increments.

Anonymous said...

Ankur,

You are more or less correct in terms of salary raise for US faculty.

But in US what matters most is the negotiable salary (and start up) at the time of hire. This salary can be 50% higher(or even more)than the current. Dean/Provost often have a separate account to match that as a counter offer to prevent loss of successful faculty. Of course, this becomes more important for the successful faculty at Associate and Full professor level.



Prof. TA

Anonymous said...

Ankur,

even when I was leaving a US University for IISc, our Dean offered me some 12 K USD raise in salary along with other goodies like summer salary for two more years etc. So Prof. TA is right. If you are a coveted faculty member and have done reasonably well, the Dean will try to raise your salary using something like SPI which can be significant.

SB

Anonymous said...

Dear SB,

Is a tenure from IISC considered equivalent to tenure in US/Canadian universities? What if one wants to join a US/Canadian university as a tenured Assoc. Prof. after being promoted to Assoc. Prf. in IISc? Is that possible? Or, does one have to start over as Asst. Prof.?

IISc_fac

Giri@iisc said...

Dear IISc_fac:

I was offered Associate professor without tenure and they said they will evaluate me after three years for tenure and possible promotion to professor. This was in a top 10 school in USA. This was in 2003 when I had just been promoted to associate professor in IISc.

Regarding additional salaries, yes, you can combine bhatnagar fellowship (CSIR) with DST fellowships such as JC Bose, Swarnajayanthi, Ramanujam etc or DBT fellowships.

Also, please note that there are several chair positions in IIT-D, K and IISc. These add to the salaries. But these chair positions are normally for professors.

Giridhar

Anonymous said...

There are quite a few faculties in IISC who have left tenure track or tenured positions in USA e.g. (GKA, Pradip from ME)
Reverse flux from IISc to USA is not very common but it is not known whether people have tried or not for that kinds of things. I persoanlly know one IIT-B ME faculty went to Univ. Alberta as assoc. prof. Some like Prof. Giri have been offered but did not take it up.

One problem in getting a tenured position straight away is Us universities do not normally want to hand out tenure till they are sure that the person can bring his own research money in a very competitive US market. So a researcher from India will normally be not given tenure plainly due to this reason from the start. But rank can be still the same.

Anonymous said...

Any information about DST-INSPIRE faculty positions? Did any one go for RTI?

Anonymous said...

Thanks Giridhar and Anon!

IISC_fac

Anonymous said...

Any idea whether one can avail two fellowship at the same time e.g. Ramanujna+Ramalingswami or Ramanujan+INSPIRE or similar (consider institute has not offered permanent position)...if not the salary part, atleast contingency..???

@Prof. Giri: comments please?

Anonymous said...

Any idea whether one can avail two fellowship at the same time e.g. Ramanujna+Ramalingswami or Ramanujan+INSPIRE or similar (consider institute has not offered permanent position)...if not the salary part, atleast contingency..???

@Prof. Giri: comments please?

Anonymous said...

Any idea whether one can avail two fellowship at the same time e.g. Ramanujna+Ramalingswami or Ramanujan+INSPIRE or similar (consider institute has not offered permanent position)...if not the salary part, atleast contingency..???

@Prof. Giri: comments please?

Anonymous said...

Anyone please tell me how to write "Particulars of citation index of published work" in my biodata...

Anonymous said...

Regarding citation index:

Suppose a paper was cited 5 times by other authors. Should I write the citation index as just "5"? or should I write all the details of the papaer in which the paper was referred?

anon said...

5 new IITs in the 12th plan, including one in Kerala: this news may be of interest to this blog readers:

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/kerala/article2651039.ece

Anonymous said...

Please give me some information about particulars of citation index plz....

Vimal Mishra said...

@ Anon above
You can use the link to calculate your h (citation) index:
http://code.google.com/p/citations-gadget/

SM said...

Regarding particulars of citation data:
IMO, it is not necessary to write the details of the papers that cited your paper. At most, one can write the number of citations (with a defined date up to which it is calculated) for each published paper. One can also provide impact factor of the journal one published papers in. Again, one has to define which years impact factor is taken into account. One option could be the values from the last year or the impact factor of the journal in the year of publication.

If this is too much of work, then one can sum up the total citations, provide average citation per paper, and H-index.

If you are worried how someone else would verify your citation data, you may create a ReseracherID and provide your researcher ID in your biodata for verification.

Having said this, if it is an application to the government of India, you better should ask the secretary responsible who alone can give you the correct answer after due deliberation with joint secy, cabinet secy, 1 or 2 ministers, 3 constitutional experts and so on....

Giri@iisc said...

"Suppose a paper was cited 5 times by other authors. Should I write the citation index as just "5"? or should I write all the details of the papaer in which the paper was referred?"

Depends on your application. For my Bhatnagar nomination, I was asked to provide details of all the 3000 papers that had cited my work. I think including 30 copies of 200 pages giving a list of 3000 papers is ridiculous. But you have to do what you have to do.

What I suggest is that you write the number of citations for each published paper and the impact factor of the journal that year. Put the details in an appendix. If you are applying for a job in IIT or somewhere else, do not include the appendix.

Giridhar

Anonymous said...

Vishu or anybody else in the forum,
Do you know where other IITs are going to open? Prof. Sriram had also mentioned once about 5 new IITs.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

The 5 IITs were a part of the Kakodkar committee recommendations, as was the fee hike. I found this obscure piece of news which says that "The HRD ministry has set up a committee to prepare a roadmap for the implementation of IIT reforms suggested by a panel headed by Anil Kakodkar."

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-11-24/news/30436905_1_kakodkar-committee-iit-madras-iit-council

Now, that is a TOI news, and TOI has infinitely many nuts writing for it; so it has to taken with a kilo of salt. However, if it is true, then it implicitly means that all recommendations of the Kakodkar committee have been accepted. I personally think it is good news.

Anonymous said...

Do you know where other IITs are going to open?

Haha. Most of us have a hard time remembering the locations of the IITs that have already been created! Now, there is 5 more.

Mr. Sibbal has turned the IITs into rabbits, with one heck of a litter.

Anonymous said...

I am amazed that you answer all these monkeys cluttering your blog all over. Half of them don't know how to read a form or instructions on how to apply for a faculty position and most appear to be uneducated village idiots asking questions as if there is no tomorrow and as if you are here only for their convenience. It couldn't be a happier coincidence that they don't get a job in our institutions. We certainly don't want people who can't even write a coherent paragraph (who knows how they write their papers. Sure as hell I don't want to read any). And the cribbing. Man! How do you tolerate these monkeys? If this is representative of the 'foreign' talent pool that we are trying to tap then god forbid! People who have no sense of when and where to ask their most private concerns, no manners, forced expressions which are most often abhorrent twists of western expressions.. and let's not even get started on the 'high' motivation these people show for research. Didn't they start doing science because of interest? I hope we don't infest our institutes with these monkeys. If your blog shows the quality of our budding scientists then I am ashamed.

chaitu465 said...

hi friends all the best for gate2012.

Chris said...

Hi INSPIRE candidates,

I attended the INSPIRE faculty scheme interview for chemical sciences and it was a good experience. The committee was mainly focusing on the novelty and feasibility of the proposed future work. Few candidates said that they were also questioned about their rationale for the chosen institute, where they want to carry-out their research. Just thought of sharing these info with the candidates that might be facing the interview in the future.

One big glitch was time scheduling of the interview. All the candidates received the same email saying that their interview is scheduled at 10:00 a.m. and will be for 30 min. Hence, most of us booked our flight tickets for the same evening/afternoon or had other plans for the rest of the day. To our dismay, we realized that the 10:00 a.m. is just the start time of the interview and the process was supposed to take the whole day (till about 08:00 p.m.) until all the candidates had their chance. It was a herculean task to convince other candidates to swap the time schedule and few were inconvenience. So, I recommend any future candidates that had made their flight reservations, contact the administrative person and ask her to (re)schedule your presentation in the forenoon session rather than in the evening session.

All the best to those that will be facing the INSPIRE interview on a later date! Good luck to those that have already appeared in the interview. Let us keep our fingers crossed and wait for the outcome!

Chris

Anonymous said...

@Chris

Thanxs for the information. Do you know whether the rest of the candidates (who were not shortlisted) will be considered again?

Giri@iisc said...

All interviews and presentations for the proposals in DST/DBT etc follow the same format. They send you a letter that the interview begins at 9 am but your interview may be scheduled at 6:30 pm. Normally, you should write to them that you are leaving at 6 pm and arriving at 10 am etc. with the flight timings and tell them to schedule it appropriately.

Thanks

Giridhar

Chris said...

@Anon,
I have no information about whether or not the rest of the candidates that were not shortlisted will be considered. My impression was that most of the candidates that were shortlisted were at the verge of 32 years (last chance to attempt). However, I could very well be wrong, as I do have info on the age of the majority of the candidates, other than the few that I spoke to.

@Prof. Giridhar,
Thanks for your info about the time scheduling of interviews in DST/DBT etc. Wish I had this info earlier. Thanks anyways! It will certainly be helpful for the future.

Chris

Anonymous said...

Are academic jobs bountiful back home is hype? My friends and I are just wondering, who gave presentations at the recent YIM Boston event and waiting to hear from certain schools representatives' who showed interest in our work that day.

Anonymous said...

Any idea whether one can avail two fellowship at the same time e.g. Ramanujna+Ramalingswami or Ramanujan+INSPIRE or similar (consider institute has not offered permanent position)...if not the salary part, atleast contingency..???

Anonymous said...

@ anon 10:04 a.m.

It is indeed true. However "one" is not the only one which departments are looking for. In a huge country like the US and for a huge country like India, there are plenty of extra-ordinary profiles existing. Of course everyone thinks (s)he is the best.

Anonymous said...

How do you scale "extra ordinary" profiles - by research area or by number of papers or by fit?

Anonymous said...

Question: Two candidates working on cancer biology apply for a position in the same program back home (India). Assuming equally knowledgeable candidates that they are, would the hiring committee prefers a person who used regular molecular biology approaches in answering interesting questions that resulted in couple of high impact factor journal publications or the other one who used interesting approaches such as metabolomics in answering different set of interesting questions that resulted in novel and yet not-so-high impact factor publications; given the differences in journal categories, their impact factors and ranking.

Note: Regular approaches mean techniques in common use and those that does not add additional expertise to a program. Interesting techniques are those that are gaining popularity such as LC/MS/MS and GC/MS/MS.

Anonymous said...

'extra ordinary profile' is not by research area, but by visible outputs in terms of papers, patents, awards, projects, PhD guidance and so on. Research area can change (even at mid career or later, many had changed research areas), but the candidate is extra ordinary by his/her brilliancy in research and development activities. Obviously it must be much above the average of existing team of faculty of a department in a institute to tag it as 'extra ordinary'.

Anonymous said...

whatever be the research area, whether 'cancer biology' or something else, the credit will always be given to the candidate with more publications in high impact factor journal when the two as mentioned are compared. BTW, working on 'interesting topic' is supposed to automatically lead to 'high impact factor' and more journal publications, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

OK so a lot of debate about 'extra-ordinary' profile. So I do not know what that is because apparently I do not have an 'extra-ordinary' profile. But let me tell you what is NOT and 'extra-ordinary profile'. You DEFINITELY do not have an 'extra-ordinary' profile if

a. you have published handsome number of papers in respected journals of your field.

b. you have graduated a lot of PhD students and they are well placed in the places of their interest

c. you have got a lot of awards like SJ, JCB, SSB.

d. you think that one has to respect the parameters set by the scientific community for research i.e. publications, impact factor, h-index etc.

One can sky rock his profile by defying all of the above against a single statement - "I am committed to research; I do not care for publications or no of students graduated. It is science (which is never accepted by any of the reviewers) which is important".

FYI for the sarcasm-impaired geniuses eager to reply back, this is what is called 'sarcasm'.

Anonymous said...

Comment: "BTW, working on 'interesting topic' is supposed to automatically lead to 'high impact factor' and more journal publications, isn't it?"

Response: I beg to differ. Interesting topic does not necessarily translates to high impact factor - because all depends on the scope of ones research area. We use chromatography and mass spectrometry tools to study cancer biology and our findings are majorly published in 'Analytical Chemistry' (IF: 5.8); which is the number one journal in analytical sciences. However a 22nd ranked journal under 'Oncology' subject area share the same impact factor. So there's no relation between reputation, impact factor, and ranking of a journal; and so may not a good way to compare apples with oranges.

Anonymous said...

@ anon 3:13 am,

I completely agree with you. One has to understand that there is a suitability of topic for a particular journal and some studies are apt for some journals. Some people in chemical engineering for e.g. ask lame questions to people working in process control or reaction kinetics if they could (not) publish in Journal of Fluid Mechanics. One only has to pretend to be nice with such people by not saying that they are not only stupid by expecting such weird combinations but also not questioning their training as a researcher. Impact factors are important but comparison can not be made across the disciplines.

Anonymous said...

It would be very helpful if someone or more who served on hiring committees' could chip in and comment whether publications impact factors of the prospective applicants are compared across disciplines or judged case by case – since science is becoming interdisciplinary and any single program might be receiving applications from candidates with different educational backgrounds and as well different category publications with respect to impact factor.

CKP said...

Me and my wife are from two opposite parts of India. I have an offer from an IIT very close to my home town. I want to ask if I can give my wife's parents address for our annual LTC? Can the LTC address be different from my 'permanent address' which is my parents place? Can one change one's LTC address in future? Thanks in advance...

PS: Sorry anon@November 26, 2011 4:24 PM for the monekeyish question!

Anonymous said...

Though it is true that science is 'interdisciplinary', but atleast for hiring faculty in IITs (because one candidate must identify him/her for some courses at B.Tech. level which he/she can teach from his/her basic degrees, hence though research can be fully interdisciplinary, but teaching criteria is also looked into for recruitment in IITs), comparison is made only within a particular discipline, though some kind of moderation across the discipline is sometimes done by Director/Dean(faculty).

AP said...

Thanks Prof. Giri, Sriram and all Anons for all the valuable comments, critics a discussion on various topics related to perspective faculty in India. I came across your blog accidentally and glued to it for last 6 months. It helped me tremendously for my job application package, presentations and ultimately went through selection committee. Recently, I have been offered a faculty position in IITK and also in few more IITs are interested, need to cencel few upcoming interviews and job talks in India.
Thanks, and keep it up.

Giri@iisc said...

Congratulations on your offer. Please do contribute to the blog even after you join IIT-K.

Thanks

Giridhar

iitmsriram said...

@CKP (about LTC)

Government (family) LTC is once in two years, not annual. At present there is a provision for 3 trips per 4 year block for the first two such blocks after one joins government service for the first time. You can declare a home town that is different from your permanent address but the general expectation is that you should be able to provide an address at your "home town". You can change your home town once during your career. This is generally how it is practiced, though the rules are actually much more complicated.

Chris said...

@AP,
Congratulations on your offer at IITK. Just a suggestion (feel free to ignore it) - instead of cancelling your other job talks, you can visit the institutions, meet with their faculty and build a rapport/collaboration/just get to know them, which I hope will be helpful in the future. Of course, you can indicate about your offer from IITK and tell them that you had accepted it.

All the best for your future career!

Chris

Anonymous said...

Congrats to AP for IITK offer. In addition to Chirs's comment, I want to mention that compared to IITK, IIT-D/B/M are much more preferred destination for faculty and family if someone has two-body working problem and for better scope for medical and kids study etc. Including myself there are several faculties who moved from IITK to IIT-D/B/M due to above reasons. So AP when you are getting similar chances, you may explore that at other IITs like D/B/M.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

A well researched article; may be of interest to many here.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/education/science-education-and-research-in-india-undergoing-a-quiet-but-potentially-huge-transformation/articleshow/10972393.cms?curpg=1

Anonymous said...

Does anyone has got any idea regarding the DST-FAST TRACK young scientist scheme meeting? I had applied 6 months before. Till now I didnt get any intimation from them.

AL said...

Any information about the accommodation/housing for an assistant prof. joining IITB recently? Thanks.
AL

Anonymous said...

Dear Prof. Giri,

I need few clarifications from you:

- Recently, I got an offer from a new IIT. Last year, I visited few established IITs. A couple of institutes expressed interests. I am waiting for an interview call. In this case, how should I proceed? What are the tradeoffs between the old and the new IITs?
- I am also planning to apply for R&D labs/industry. This helps me to live close to my family after relocating to India. Of course companies pay lot of money. Are there any trade offs between IITs and R&D labs? I want to do research.
-Is this easy to move between IITs? IITs close to my family (train travel time < 12 hours)showed no interest to work with me. Does IIT culture accepts faculty members changing jobs?

Anonymous said...

to the one above: not a request nor an appreciation to Dr. Madras?

Anonymous said...

to the above comment, this forum is great.I sincerely, acknowledge Prof. Madras for his suggestions.

Anonymous said...

AL,

Many of the profs who joined IITB in the last few months are still living in the institute guest house. So the housing situation does not look too good for you. However, some old flats might become
vacant soon when the new towers are ready. I'd suggest that you ask your your head of department or try to get in touch with the Dean of Planning and Infrastructure.

Anonymous said...

My experience of having worked in an R&D lab (industry) in India is that many of the companies do very routine and safe projects. Most of the day-to-day tasks might not be very intellectually fulfilling or challenging for you. It is a far cry from the industrial R&D options say, in the US. Moving from industry to academia at a later stage might also be difficult (specially in the basic sciences), but possible if you continue to publish. Of course, there are exceptions and these were only my personal observations. Hopefully others in this forum will add their views.

AL said...

@Anonym:6:18 PM
Thanks for your info and suggestion.
AL

Anonymous said...

Reply to Does IIT culture accept changes of IIT for faculty.....regd...
Yes, there are plenty of examples (including myself), who had moved from one IIT to another because of various reasons. None stops none for that. Also it is possible at all positions, like Assistant Prof., Associate Prof., even at full Prof. level to change IITs. Though with higher position, the difficulty level increases a bit. But possible and plenty of recent examples are existing in the system.

KL said...

@chris reg inspire interview.
Thanks for your post in the blog.
I am interested to apply for this next time. Just curious to know, how many people interviewed you? Are all of them from your field (subject) or there are people from all fields of science..Were there any representative of your host institute? how long did the interview go? did you have to make any presentation before interview? if yes, the presentation should be your proposed project or your phd/postdoc work or both? if it is both then how much of focus do you think was given to your earlier work compared to your proposed work?
Thanks in advance..

Chris said...

@KL,

Good to know about your interest in inspire fellowship.

(1) The interview committee consisted of 5 scientific experts and 2 INSA representatives
(2) The experts were all from the broad field of chemistry (for chemical sciences candidates)
(3) There was no representative from any host institute, unless if there is a coincidence that you had chosen a host institute of one of the committee members. I should also say that there are two channels for applications (direct/nomination mode and host institute mode). All the candidates interviewed with me are all from the first mode.
(4) The interview was for 30 min loosely divided into 15 min presentation and 15 min discussion
(5) The presentation should cover both your previous/current (Ph.D. & postdoc) works and future proposal.
(6) As I mentioned earlier, the future work was given more focus especially in the context of novelty and feasibility. The earlier work kind of sets the stage wherein your depth of knowledge/experience/training etc. are made known (in my view).

All the best for your inspire application next year.

Chris

Unknown said...

I completed my 32 years in november, however when I submitted my INSPIRE application through institute mode (last date 31st dec), I was below 32. Does anyone have any idea whether they will consider my application. Is it possible to apply later, in that case can they consider for a fellowship of 4 years say instead of 5 years...........
do reply if you have any idea..are they too strict on age factor...

Anonymous said...

More the traffic on the forum- less is the contribution from the host and other long-time advisors on this forum. Is it just me?

Anonymous said...

If employed in a IIX, is there any option to transfer to other IIXs. I am already employed in an IIX which is far from my hometown. Afeter few years of service, I want to move near my hometown. What is the easiest way to get a posting in a IIX near to my hometown

AP said...

How is the housing facility for new faculties at IIT Kanpur? Like type? (flats, townhouse, bunglow etc), floor area, #BHK and any relevant information about housing?

Anonymous said...

Hello All,

I am joining IIT-H very soon. I would like to know about the school facilities for my kid aged 5 in and around. Also, is it better to stay in campus or outside. How is the campus housing and medical facilities ? Are the campus housing readily available and how good are they..Would appreciate any feedback...

Best
KS

Anonymous said...

Hi KS
Which department are you going to Join at IIT-Hyderbad.
I am interested to apply in Biotechnology.
Any suggestion how to approach?
Thanks

S1 said...

I am still waiting for the online interview date for DST INSPIRE. Since the personal interviews are all over and they want to declare results by Dec end, I am worried when/whether will they have the Skype interviews? I wrote them but no response. Is there anyone with any info regarding the same?

Thank you in advance and thanks to the host for giving this platform to get such queries answered.

Anonymous said...

Well, I was asked to give an Interview at indias Top institute after having discussions for more than three years and now after two months after the interview I get a rejection letter. I mean the questions asked were not Novel by the Prof which could be easily browsed in internet. I can also set up a questionare which they cannot answer. There were no relevant questions on the subject. If I have to lead a programme on the research area I chose, I think i need to be well versed in this area. But, They ask some ridiculous questions which at the end you cannot answer.. If they reject the talent now and after few decades if he performs well in states,India proudly wants to say that he is Indian researcher. I'm also proud to be Indian and our research. I had success in foreign nations where they try to evaluate based on the research you have done and how much potential you have in this area, an unfortunate day for me

Chris said...

@ Anonymous December 14, 2011 9:27 PM

Thanks for sharing your experience in this platform. Remember, you are not the only one that faced this situation. My experience with an Indian institute was also almost similar to yours.

Nevertheless, let us be unshaken by these rejections and strive to do good research in our field.

Finally at the end of the day (retirement or death) how you feel (happiness) matters more than what you do (w.r.t. career). Although a bit philosophical, I just expressed my view.

Best wishes for your future!

Chris

Anonymous said...

Anonymous December 14@ 9:27 PM,

Chris is correct. I have also heard similar stories several times. It does not reflect good on the entire committee. The interview at such level should evaluate the overall potential of the candidate as an IIX faculty and not "which equation candidate can memorize". Candidate's CV and technical presentation are more than sufficient to evaluate his/her technical aspect. Do not be disheartened by such response. If you are really good then you will find something better and it is IIX's loss.

Good Luck

Prof. TA

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous December 14@ 9:27 PM,

I also have the same experience with some IIXs. Though my academics and research credentials are better than those of several faculty members at IIXs I have been turned down.. because of that I could not memorize certain stuff (not at all related to my area of research) and consequently failed to answer in the interview. This is how the system works in India and if choose to live here you have to be patient and keep moving..

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Anon@December 14, 2011 9:27 PM

I feel sorry to hear your experience and I do hope this was only an aberration. I have an interview scheduled in a month's time and your experience serves a good caution. Would you be willing to help me and others out by perhaps outlining more specifics about your area and the questions you were asked, especially the "ridiculous questions" and "not novel" ones? This would help us, at the very least, be mentally better prepared for the interview. I understand if you may not want to have anything to do with the IIXs or this forum and any more. But I request you to spare some time and write here because your inputs would be of great to help to others.

Chris said...

List of candidates selected for the INSPIRE faculty fellowship 2011 has been published online,
http://insaindia.org/inspire/Inspire_FinalList2011.pdf

Congratulations to all the selected candidates!

I am glad to see my name too in the list, although I have not received any official email in this regard.

Cheers,
Chris

s2 said...

congrats chris and others.
But its surprising that they never held my promised Skype interview. Thats unfair. Anyways I have written them an email concerning this. Hope they bother to reply.

iitmsriram said...

About questions in interviews, as someone has noted already, the technical evaluation can be made quite adequately from the CV, the recommendation letters and the technical presentation. Some selection committee members ask provocative questions to rattle the candidate and see what the reaction is. After all, students may ask such questions in class (out of ignorance, but not always) and if the instinct to fire back is not controlled, that does not bode well. Unfortunately, we also have the occasional selection committee member who asks questions that candidates find insulting, typically treating the faculty selection committee as an extended version of graduate student admission interviews; hopefully, the selection committee chair would ease things out, but this does not always work out. The best that can be done in such cases is to ensure that such 'experts' are not called to serve on selection panels but that has only future effect. Faculty candidates who don't get selected may find it convenient to hang their rejection on these questions but that may not be a correct assessment. More often than not, candidates have a rather inflated estimate of their self worth. In summary, it is unfortunate that our anon colleague had a not-so-happy experience, but mostly, the process works and candidates are treated fairly with an exception rate of maybe a couple of percent. Giridhar, wouldn't you agree?

Anonymous said...

@Chris

Congrats.....
I too saw the list of selected candidates. Is it the final one including both instituional mode and the direct/nomination mode? Or is it the result of interview held for direct/nomination mode?

Chris said...

@ Anonymous December 17, 2011 8:45 AM

Thanks for your wishes. I think the published list is for the direct/nomination mode candidates whose interviews were held in the past weeks. Based on the comparison between the shortlisted candidates and selected candidates lists, there are no new names, which could have come from the institutional mode.

Chris

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Dear iitmsriram,

Thanks for your inputs. When you say that "technical evaluation can be made adequately from the CV", do you mean to say that technical questions are not asked?

Also, could pl clarify what you mean by "insulting questions"? Are they personal questions, e.g. about caste? Or are they just technical, but tedious, obscure or generally low brow questions? Or is the manner of asking insulting?

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know what happened to the foreign universities bill that Sibal was going to bring in? I can't want to quit this "Sarkari" IIX I am stuck with.

Chris said...

@ Ankur,

Let me share some points from my experience with selection committees and from my personal visits to couple of institutions.
(1) In addition to questions on my proposed research (that I answered well), there were some questions comparing my experimental technique with another technique, about which I had limited knowledge.
(2) Few questions were on fundamentals (UG stuff) and the depth of knowledge was examined. At one point, I had to give up when the complexity increased. Some questions were asked in a strict manner.
(3) I was asked to teach a topic of my choice using the board over there. This ended abruptly in less than 5 min. Perhaps it was already sufficient for them to assess my ability.
(4) There was one member that asked some 'provocative' questions and behaved like an enemy of my field. Upon talking with other candidates I realized that he behaved the same with them too. As Prof. Sriram mentioned, he just wanted to rattle the candidates and see the reaction.
(5) Prof. Sriram is correct about the inflated estimate of self-worth by many candidates. When I was called for interview, I thought that I stand a good chance because of my CV and publications, but was very humbled when I got to know the credentials of other candidates.
(6) During my self-invited visits to IIXs, personal questions regarding marital status, no. of kids/ages, hometown, etc. were asked. Although I found it awkward during my first visit (in part due to my long abroad stay), I soon realized that they were thinking about spouse employment, schools, etc. Even though I didn't get the job, it was good to know them and develop contacts/future collaborations.

After being in the academic market for several months, I slowly start to understand the dynamics. Thanks to this blog and contributors for providing valuable inputs.

All the best Ankur for your interview next month.

Chris

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Thanks Chris. I think that is a good picture. It appears like they want to make sure you know to teach. Did you have anything in your CV that would suggest that you may have a weakness at teaching?

The rattling tactic is a standard HR practice, some people do it even in PhD defences. I think one needs to keep in mind that the behaviour of a committee member during the interview may not be his natural behaviour; it is part of a mind game being played, so has to respond by not taking things personally/emotionally.

SKR said...

Hi, I came across UGC progamme for recruiting science faculty in Universities. Could you please provide more inputs of this scheme?
http://www.ugcfrp.ac.in/index.asp?links=ugc1

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the friendly comments about my post on rejection letter. Since Ankur was asking about the questions in the interview, +

1. I was asked to give two seminars on my research split in two days
2. I was asked to meet atleat around 25 faculty every hr
and I had to repeat the same everytime.
The ridiculous questions were asking to solve some stupid problems in the seminar which might quite even take half hr to finish. Also, I felt a bit disappointed since the area of research I work is very new to the perspective of Indian research. And Always for a selection in foreign university the committee comprises of the experts from your field and one or two from others. But In INDIA that too in
TIFx(I thought I should mention the institute here),
the committee is such diverse from Biology to Physics,which I found a bit strange. I can't go and sit in a committee for an interview in plant physiology. And ofcourse you can imagine the questions you can expect, Ofcourse they might have google searched your topic before they attend the interview :). Ok, according to comments posted by some one on this matter saying the candidate feels a bit skyup about his CV, why the Foreign faculty feels that I can lead very well their research programme but not INDIA. I hope we have to change the attitude of the old faculty in our institutions so that Indian research can shine very well.

Regards
RR

Giri@iisc said...

iitmsriram@December 17, 2011 8:41 AM:

I agree with you. Sometimes the candidates feel that the selection committee should not question their skills. For example, one candidate took offense when I asked whether he really performed the gas chromatograms or gave it to some central facility. It was the latter but the candidate felt that he should not be question on experimental skills but only on research skills or thinking ability.

Many candidates also feel offended when questioned about what subjects they will teach or how they will teach it. For example, a colleague of mine asked the candidate how he would explain entropy to XII students, 1 year B.Tech, 1 year M.Tech and a Ph.D working on thermodynamics. While this may be extreme, candidates should prepare their presentations such that it appeals to a wider variety of audience without compromising on the details.

Sometimes the members ask questions like.."This research is pointless..everything has been done before." It is important how the candidate responds because the candidate is likely to encounter the similar members in funding agencies etc.

But largely the decisions are unbiased for faculty recruitment in IIT/IISc.

However, interviews for inspire etc are different because a generalized committee tries to examine the complete domain of physics or chemistry..which may not lead to very accurate results.

Giridhar

Ankur Kulkarni said...

"asking to solve some stupid problems in the seminar which might quite even take half hr to finish."

RR - are you sure you were not interviewing for a JEE coaching class?

It is perfectly ok to be asked to demonstrate that you know your subject, but a tedious problem which takes half an hr to complete is surely not the best way of testing your knowledge of it.

However I suspect that it was a deliberate attempt at annoying you, though I am not sure.

Anonymous said...

With regard to funds from governmental organizations like DST or DRDO etc., I was wondering if the concerned professor whose proposal is accepted and is granted a fund of Rs. X, gets any percentage or fraction of Rs. X for his personal use, legally & officially. If so, how much? I think this question is not talked about or discussed by anyone, not even in academia in USA. But I always thought if a professor brings in an amount of say Rs. 10 crore (in India) or say $ 3 million in the US, won't he get anything at all which he can use for personal expenses?

Any kind reply from anyone familiar with it, is highly appreciated.


Thanks
MPS

anon said...

Here are some of my experience in faculty interviews:

I visited some 6-8 places. I work in an interdisciplinary area, so I had applied to two mainstream departments and spoke to people whose research interests ranged from Astrophysics and String theory to hard-core cell biology and animal behavior!

With the exception of few incidents, I did not think that I was asked too much. I rarely felt I was in an interview, but it mostly seemed like a positive discussions on ideas. In cases where I felt awkward and a bit upset, there were two possibilities: In retrospect, I think at least some of those were great questions which is continuing to help me to shape my research better. There were indeed a few other instances where I think my hosts could have done a better job. For instance, in one place I was visibly extremely tired after my talk, but they had arranged a meeting with a bunch of folks where they were shooting questions at me; the kind of questions they asked could annoy anyone! But those really are a minority on the scale of positive interactions that I had.

I entirely agree on the comments regarding inflated self-worth of candidates that others have made above. It is important to convey your worth to the committee, for that be prepared for questions from many angles, your research, how quickly you can grasp questions, read about work of people you are meeting; teaching abilities may also help.

On a practical side, I think its always better to apply for more than just 2 places -- even if you are great, there is always some chance that they dont want you for a variety of reasons that range from lack of interest in your specialization and your teaching abilities to the fact that on the interview day, any great candidate can just mess things up and give a bad impression!

Chris said...

@ Anonymous December 17, 2011 8:45 AM

@ s2

Reg. INSPIRE faculty fellowship

Have a look at the last page of this list (http://www.inspire-dst.gov.in/DirectMode_List2011.pdf), wherein it is mentioned that the nominated mode (it should have been institutional mode) and overseas applicants will be contacted shortly.

Perhaps this news brings-in some hope! Wish you all the best!

Chris

s2 said...

Thanks Chris. Yes, that does bring some hopes in. Hope they ask for Skype interview sometime soon.

I read your earlier comment and found that you have an offer from an IIT. Is it the same department who was your host in your inspire application?

In my case, I have an offer from an old IIT different from my inspire host. My inspire host has not yet offered me a regular position. Therefore, I am going to join the place I have a regular position with or without Inspire.

I am not certain as to at what point should I mention about the new job offer. Should I let my inspire interview get over and, if offered, mention the change in host institution or should I mention it before my inspire interview. Or either way it would not make a difference?

Thanks in adv.

Chris said...

@ s2,

Glad that my previous comment brought some hope :-)

As I already mentioned in the earlier comment (as cited by you), when I applied for inspire, I did not have an offer. I applied through the direct mode without a host.

During the interview I was never asked about prospective host, although I was prepared to tell the name of the IIT that gave me an offer.

As you mentioned, having a regular position is more important than having just the fellowship.

Good luck.

Chris

Anonymous said...

Hi Chris - Congrats!

Sorry if I missed this part earlier - did you get this job while working abroad or in India. This helps - so please let us know. Thanks.

Chris said...

@ December 20, 2011 2:55 PM

Thanks for your wishes. I am not sure how my answer would help you. Anyways to answer directly, I got the job offer while working abroad.

Chris

Anonymous said...

Any updates about :INSPIRE faculty nomination mode? Is there any interview of nominated candidates?

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Any updates on Ramanujan Fellowship..? Any idea when the next selection list will be announced? Would appreciate if the applicants share the info if they have any.

KP

JD said...

Dear Prof Madras,

I have a plan to apply to IIT/IISc after finishing Ph D from a well known US university. I have 4 years of industry experience before joining Ph D. Is that enough to fulfill the 3 yrs teaching/research/industry experience that is advertised in all IIT faculty position advertisements? Or, do they mean post Ph D experience? Can you tell me, in the latter case, is there any preference between a post Ph D experience in acads or industry?

Thanks in advance.
---------
JD

Annian said...

Dear Professor Madras,
What is the present status about the news that "there is an IIT to be setup in Muddenahalli and an IISc campus at Chitradurga"? Whether they really start in near future?
Thanks and regards

Anonymous said...

@ JD
This issue has been discussed several times on this blog. I would suggest you read all comments, or search the comments with relevant keywords.
Lets not take too much of Dr. Giridhar's time.
- Wish you all the best!
H

Anonymous said...

I am considering a asst prof position at an IIX in a metro and wanted some advice and some first-hand accounts.

I grew up in a city in upper middle class family. I am concerned that joining an IIX will not give me a lifestyle of the standard that I have grown up with. I am faced with the prospect that I will earn less than my friends and relatives do or have as nice an apartment as I grew up in. But I want to be in India and I love research.

Has anyone else had this issue? How did you deal with it? Did you have any problems? Do you think an asst prof can have an upper middle class lifestyle?

K

Anonymous said...

Most of the faculty in IITs lead a lower middle class life. With a professor salary of merely Rs. 1 lakhs per month plus free housing, they have to beg standing before the gates of IITs.

Chris said...

@ K,

I was born and brought up in an affluent family in a tier-2 city in India. I will be joining an IIT (not in a metro) in next few months, as I too want to be in India and love research and teaching.

Below, I express my views on the questions raised by you.

> Has anyone else had this issue?
Although my situation is similar to yours, I do not view it as an issue.

> How did you deal with it?
I am not going to compare my (future) salary to that of my friends or relatives. Instead, I would look for job satisfaction and personal happiness in life.

> Did you have any problems?
There may be some problems if you want to make a big investment (house) or buy some expensive items (car), for example. There would of course exist ways to deal with these matters.

> Do you think an asst prof can have an upper middle class lifestyle?
I am sure that an asst prof can have a comfortable/fulfilling lifestyle, if he/she wishes.

Chris

Anonymous said...

Do u have any idea about the exact amount of felloship provided to a INSPIRE faculty fellow apart from the research grant.

Anonymous said...

Dr. Giridhar,
When we calculate “h index” do we consider citations in review articles, book chapters and citations in our own articles?
Thank you
YK

Anonymous said...

Can somebody provide updates about INSPIRE Faculty scheme. Did any one got call for SKYPE interview? For Institutional nomination will they contact candidate or institute?

-PP

Anonymous said...

Anonymus who posted on January 2 at 5 pm:
Why do you want Dr. Giri to do your homework?
This information has been clearly mentioned on the website!

Anonymous said...

I am student of IIT Guwahati and many students here are facing several problems from a few faculty members. I think the problem is related to unfair and politically motivated faculty recruitment in IITs, and therefore I am commenting here.

In particular, the PhD holders from IIT Kharagpur has turned out to be terrible. See the details:

http://iitproblems.blogspot.com/2010/07/complaints-regarding-dr-sushanta.html

http://iitproblems.blogspot.com/search/label/Harassment%20by%20Professors

Chris said...

A naive question,
Are IIX faculties eligible to apply for projects and other grants with UGC?

If not directly, is it possible to submit a collaborative research proposal wherein one of the PIs is a university professor?

Thanks in advance!

Chris

Anonymous said...

thanks for your comments!

I got an offer from a sister (or newer) IIT. Furthermore, I am expecting a position within my company in Bangalore. In this thread, there are mixed opinions on new IITs. I need to decide by the end of this month. Which one would be a better option?

Taking the IIT offer will be interesting for me. However, the IIT is located very far from my home. Is this feasible to change to another IIT within 3-4 years? How does this happen? Are there be any bureaucratic problems involved? New IITs will have less faculty than old IITs. Therefore, I expect they may not allow me change soon.

I did not really understand difference between an industrial project and a consulting project. For example, if a private company finances a project to a faculty member, does it imply that the faculty gets 60% of the project money?

Anonymous said...

I am new to this discussion thread and have already read previous comments/posts. I have been living abroad from the past ten years. My background is computer science. I may get offers from an IIT and a R&D lab (which offers around 17 lakhs/year). I have to make a tricky decision. Of course, money is not every thing. How much does an assistant professor earn on the top of his normal income (from consultancy, training etc.)? This may be different for different faculty members. Please share your experiences.

iitmsriram said...

In another thread, SA_IIT said...

Dear Prof. Giri and Prof. Sriram,

I have been offered a position of Assistant Professor in IIT on contract for 3 years @ Rs. 30000+8000/-. I have been interviewed by a selection committee. I would like to know the procedure and criteria for permanent absorption in IITs, especially in IIT Delhi.

I dont think Giri or myself can answer for IITD, I can answer for IITM. To get an offer for permanent position (assuming you are eligible), you would have to apply against an advertisement and be interviewed by a selection committee (again).

Anonymous said...

Has anyone here applied/planning to apply for UGC faculty recharge program. Could you please share your experiences.
Thank you
RP

Anonymous said...

Any News on when next round of Ramanujam fellowships could be ?

fac said...

Does anyone know of results of DBT-Ramalingaswami fellowship for the year 2011?

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