Pinned post for prospective faculty to IITs/IISc
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3,339 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 2401 – 2600 of 3339 Newer› Newest»It is really time to stop the stupendously anti-meritocratic reservation policy. It is unethical to discriminate merit (for or against) on basis of caste ! The entire Indian academia-intelligentsia should stand up and start protests against this.
http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/indias-reservation-policy-has-become-a-disaster-jagdish-bhagwati-to-ndtv-1220901?utm_source=ndtv&utm_medium=top-stories-widget&utm_campaign=story-2-http%3a%2f%2fwww.ndtv.com%2findia-news%2findias-reservation-policy-has-become-a-disaster-jagdish-bhagwati-to-ndtv-1220901
-IISc faculty member
There are all indications that percentage of reserved seats (which has any government touch) will reach ~ 70%. Is it worth living in a country where you the know the future of your next generations are doomed ?
-IISc faculty member
Dear -IISc faculty member:
Currently, 95% of faculty members in IISc are from forward caste. What have they achieved? What reservation policy has IISc followed for faculty recruitment and promotion?
No one is forcing you to stay in this country. Go to USA and live like a third class citizen of India.
Anon at 10:51 AM
You can read and write. Enhance those skills a little more and you will automatically know what IISc has achieved.
IISc is supposed to follow Government rules but does not follow any reservation policy for faculty recruitment and promotion. Instead of answering this question, you are asking me to enhance my reading skills. Well, from you, we know what IISc has achieved..arrogance. Just because you have a worthless Ph.D, do not think you can advise the rest of the community.
Anon at 11:25 AM. IISc's broad achievements in bullet points (certainly not all encompassing):
1. India`s space program
2. Stellar contributions in metallurgy towards India`s atomic energy program
3. Genesis of Light Combat Aircraft
4. Strand Life Sciences
5. World ranking of 147
6. Outstanding PhD graduates
7. Some of the greatest scientists: Rao, Narasimha, Dhawan, Gadakar, Desiraju, Sharma, Bagchi, Sood.
1-7 in middle of peanut funding, salary and incessant fight with stray dogs, monkeys and power cuts.
Laughable 1-7. LCA has never taken off with innumerable delays. World ranking of 147 is not great (look at NUS and other chinese universities), Strand Life Science is just one company and not even famous.
But your best statement is "Some of the greatest scientists:..." Sir, do you know who are the greatest scientists. They are Einstein, Feynman etc. Nobel prize winners are great scientists, not greatest scientists. Some people who you have listed are not even FRS.
Why don't you put a comparison with Caltech that has the same number of faculty as IISc on the following parameters:
1. Number of Nobel prize winners on roll
2. Number of Nobel prize winners from your alumni
3. Number of Cell/Nature/Science papers in the last ten years
4. Number of citations per paper
5. Number of patents filed every year and subsequently licensed
6. Number of companies started
How do you know that 1-7 which you have stated could not be achieved if IISc followed government rules and had reservation?
the makers/designers of LCA (DRDO etc..) do follow the 50% reservation quite seriously!
But that's not the reason. The most important reason is lack of motivation and dedication! Nobody is accountable to anybody. Merit and creativity are stifled by bureaucracy. And jealousy is the national sin. Read the Indian crab story?
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/capturing-indian-crab-behaviour/article4570414.ece
Anonymous at September 24, 2015 at 12:20 PM:
So you're saying that IISc is currently not equivalent to a great university like Caltech and by implementing the policy of reservation, it can reach that level?
Feels a little counter-intuitive.
The current policy of reservation is severely flawed. Yes, some backward communities require reservation for education and jobs. But one shouldn't allow the same person to be benefitted by reservation at every stage of career - university admissions, postgraduate admissions, and then later professor-level jobs. Moreover, the current caste-based criteria of who benefits from reservation and who doesn't, is also severely influenced by politics instead of having a scientific basis.
"So you're saying that IISc is currently not equivalent to a great university like Caltech and by implementing the policy of reservation, it can reach that level?"
No. Nothing worse will happen by implementing reservation. As a national institute, IISc should not think it is above national laws. By not implementing reservations or following national guidelines, all we have got is arrogance. Arrogant professors who write grammatically incorrect sentences such as "(which has any government touch)" ask others to read and write better. Calling themselves as the "greatest scientists" as if they have won several Nobel Prizes.
The other commentator pointed out "The most important reason is lack of motivation and dedication! Nobody is accountable to anybody. Merit and creativity are stifled by bureaucracy. "
I agree with this statement. Do not blame reservation, stray dogs, monkeys and power cuts for the dismal performance.
2:29pm Anon: Who are you to judge that IISc's performance has been dismal ? What are your your credentials/contributions ? I do not think you can even judge the correctness of a sentence, let alone that of IISc`s performance.
You do not need to play cricket at the test level to say that a batsman is poor if he gets out for zero ten times. Judge IISc vs Caltech as given in 1-6 and show that you are good.
The sentence "which has any government touch" is grammatically incorrect. However, I pointed it out only when the commentator asked me to improve my reading and writing skills. You do not need lessons from arrogant faculty.
You wanted me to show, what IISc`s contributions are. I have shown that. I do not care whether you think them to be worthy, unless you prove that you are a thinker/contributor of any worth at all. Therefore no more debates with you.
Your argument that reservations will enhance institutional value can be either due to i) you are a back door entrant yourself and frustrated of not getting the benefits further ii) you are a moron iii) or both.
Bye.
"Therefore no more debates with you."
Great, no problem. I never said reservations will enhance institutional value. I said it will not affect it.
How does an IISc professor refute an argument when asked about statistics used by ranking agencies? Call the person who asks these stats as frustrated and a moron.
If you call people with whom you discuss as morons and frustrated, you have no right to be in a civilized society. It is possible you were thrown out of USA and came to IISc, developed this arrogance of asking people to read and write better and calling people names. Well, all I can say is that you are in the right place.
Prove that institutional value will not be affected. Reservation has affected India`s development as a whole extensively, as many talented people are driven out due to lack of equal opportunity.
A rank of 1147 is better than 147 for you or are they equivalent ? Why should it be Nobel Prize or nothing ? Ramachandran, Bose, Saha, Rao did not get Nobel prize. So they are all mediocre ? Why should I have to calibrate IISc with Caltech ? Do people here get same privileges as that received by Caltech in terms of funding, salary, students, facilities, infrastructure, society, support and symbiosis with local industry ?
You don't consider the scientists I named as greatest/great. They were in Indian terms of course. Fine, name 10 scientists, rather intellectuals in any field who have availed reservation and are better or equivalent than the people I named.
Anon September 24, 2015 at 5:32 PM:
Do not worry. Many IISc professors think they are smart and others are morons. They believe this and also tell this to media.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/Neither-Bengalureans-nor-babus-are-smart-Expert/articleshow/49082824.cms
"Neither Bengalureans nor the babus is smart?" asked TV Ramachandra, professor and chairman of the Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, on Wednesday.
Of course, if you point to them that the word "babus" is plural and, therefore, the word "is" is wrong, they will tell you to go read and write better.
Do not worry about this.
Could we pl. take the rankings / reservations / grammar arguments elsewhere? I don't believe it is useful to prospective faculty. Thanks.
After teaching and research presentation at IIT can one expect to know the outcome from HOD?
Or they do not share it?
Also if the department recommends what are the chances that Institute (Director) accepts it?
Further is it true that in New IITs the director shortlists the CVs?
Thanks in advance!
Dear PK@sept 15: Regarding INSPIRE
I met Dr. Sunit Minz yesterday. I inquired about our grant. The sanction of money for our batch has been approved by DST on 18 August. Sanction order has been prepared by him on Sept 2nd. It has been delayed by Controller of Accounts, as I come to know. Our Sanction Order is ready but It has to be signed by Dr. A Mukhopadhyay.
It has been pending since Sept 2. Sunit told that by next week probably he may proceed it. I hope by next weekend we will get it!!!!!!!
Dr. Anurag
www.apsunda.com
Anonymous at September 25, 2015 at 4:21 PM:
- During my interactions this year at several IITs, all HODs told me (although informally) that my application will be recommended by the department.
- I would like to think that all people who are recommended by the department are called for the selection committee interview (director is a part of selection committee), although perhaps Prof. Sriram is better qualified to answer.
- It probably depends on the IIT. I would expect that the director has a greater say in faculty recruitment in new IITs due to lack of senior faculty in the departments. But I don't think that he/she would have time to do the preliminary shortlisting.
I apologies for a slight distraction here, but going through some of the comments above (however vicious they are), I think, it may not be completely unworthy to discuss what IISc and IITs have achieved and what they can achieve, even in a forum concerned with prospective faculty. This could be an important issue that attracts or detracts prospective faculty.
Whatever I express here, is my humble opinion, probably erroneous, hence please feel free to criticize, denounce or ignore it.
Ever since their inception, IISc and IITs have been mandated to serve India and much less to the problems of global relevance. A country emancipated from colonial suppression for hundred years faced overwhelming problems very different than that faced by the developed world. In terms of national level (defense, space, power) science and technology, we are probably lagging 20 years w.r.t. USA and 10 years w.r.t. China, though the gap has probably reduced. Therefore, many a times it happened that the problems IIX people engaged in, were not “cutting edge” in global terms though they were so crucial locally that it could determine whether the dream of a small fighter jet would be realized. I think despite all the odds what IIX have achieved is remarkable, could have been better. The difficulty an experimentalist faces even today in a top IIX is just reminiscent of the ten to hundred fold difficulties faced by scientists of my previous generation. Today`s ranking are primarily their hard work. My deepest regards to those who succeeded, many of those who could not, could have done far better given the right infrastructure. In the middle of sharing all the indigenous difficulties, achieving global competitiveness is remarkably difficult. Hence, today I think it is grossly unfair to compare IISc with Caltech and denounce it right away. Even at the mandate level Caltech and IISc are dissimilar systems given the very different surroundings of the two institutes. Then was Professor Dhawan and the following directors’ vision of modeling IISc and its course according to Caltech, wrong? Absolutely not, the great visionaries they were. As India would progress from a developing towards a developed nation the problem sets become more global where she along with her brightest children arrives at the global stage. IISc has been the microcosm of India’s indigenous science and technology, a mandate that it has successfully fulfilled and will continue to do so through its faculty, students it nourish along with the several IITs. It is our national responsibility to ensure that she emerges as the microcosm of global development in near future. Denouncing it outright will hardly serve that purpose.
-Assistant Professor in IISc Aero
In my case I called HoD in an old IIT twice but he refused to share anything saying that I will be informed if selected. However, as you know if you are not selected you are not informed. And you keep guessing till the next advertisement is floated.
I really do not know the volume of applications IITs receive for faculty that makes it so hard to correspond or at least they can put up shortlisted names on the website!
There is a total lack of transparency and courtesy!
Even low rung foreign universities inform you about your application outcome.
And when I read some people debating about Caltech, LCA, ranking, Nobel prize its really funny.
Dear Anonymous September 26, 2015 at 6:11 PM,
You talk about courtesy, forget about it if you want to join in IITs. Working in India is very different than working in abroad.
In fact they select candidates who can take some abuse (mild verbal). The HoD can yell at you in some department meetings.
If they are not telling you your result, most likely you dint make it to the interview. I suggest you apply to other IITs.
Best wishes,
@anon laments "I really do not know the volume of applications... can (at least) put up shortlisted names on the website".
In the last round completed at IITM (advertisement in March, appointment offers sent out end of July) we received about 1200 applications at the AP level, about 100 candidates were called for interview and about 25 offers were made. Last year the number of applications was slightly less (about 1000) and about 30 offers were made. I have checked with other (old) IITs and the numbers are about the same. The applications are received and processed using a web portal at IITM and the shortlisting results are put up at the portal (not in a public form, candidates are informed when they log in if they have been shortlisted or not).
One of the things I find is that HoDs are reluctant to deal openly with candidates who are not short listed. They are happy to state during the selection committee meetings that they find the papers to be of mediocre quality etc etc , but they cannot bring themselves to tell the candidates the same. Most try dodging, some will give them some generic "not looking for candidates in your area"
@anon states "Working in India is very different than working in abroad ... The HoD can yell at you in some department meetings"
I don't believe the two are related. Yes, working in India is very different. What has that got to do with HoD yelling at you? It is not as if all HoD's overseas are paragons of virtue. We have good HoDs and we have not so good HoDs, both in India and abroad. HoDs in India cannot do much more than yell at people. HoDs in US can do lot more things, positive and negative. And, in India, as the HoD terms are relatively short, one can choose to wait the HoD out. So, what does all that prove?
Question about Inspire fellowship (Institute mode):
I have offer from an IIT and want to apply for the research grant component of this fellowship. The advertisement states "Under 'Institutions Mode', the reputed Institutes or Universities should send all the relevant papers of pre-selected candidates before 30 Nov 2015". Can anyone let me know which documents does the institute need to forward? I will then discuss with the head of my department about making an application.
Thanks
PS
Question about Inspire fellowship (Institute mode):
I have offer from an IIT and want to apply for the research grant component of this fellowship. The advertisement states "Under 'Institutions Mode', the reputed Institutes or Universities should send all the relevant papers of pre-selected candidates". Can anyone let me know which documents does the institute needs to send? I will then talk to the head of my department accordingly and discuss about making an application.
Thanks
Question about Inspire fellowship (Institute mode):
I have offer from an IIT and want to apply for the research grant component of this fellowship. The advertisement states "Under 'Institutions Mode', the reputed Institutes or Universities should send all the relevant papers of pre-selected candidates". Can anyone let me know which documents does the institute needs to send? I will then talk to the head of my department accordingly and discuss about making an application.
Thanks
Dear Wise IIX Faculty,
I am looking for AP positions at the IIXs. I have applied to IIT-D, against their recently closed advertisement. I had a couple of questions, I seek your answers.
- What is the typical recruitment process timeline at IIT-D (when do they shortlist for interview and when should I expect to hear back).
- For many of the other IITs they seem to have rolling application deadlines (B/K/KGP). Do they really process applications all around the year; or are there one or two actual hiring windows in a year. If there are hiring windows, please could you tell when should the application be sent by for IIT B/K/KGP. I assume IIT M/R/G hire once a year, and IISc does 4x/yr.
Thank you.
Newb
I apologise for multiple posts regarding the Inspire fellowship. Somehow my browser misbehaved and I didn't realise that I'm posting the same thing multiple times. Sorry!
@Newb September 29, 2015 at 12:15 AM
Regarding recruitment at IIT-D.
Ans. to Q1- In My department (basic sciences) they have already shortlisted candidates and they have been called for the seminar + interaction with faculty . These seminars are spanned over period of one month. After this they will invite another set of candidates for seminars and interaction with the faculty. After this they will be shortlisted for the interview with the selection committee and the director. So roughly shortlisting will be done for the final interview around Dec 2015-January 2016. This I can say only about my department, I have no idea about other departments e.g. engineering.
Ans to Q2 :- Like other IITs IIT-D also has a rolling advertisement. This time it was a special advertisement with a deadline. But in general the recruitment process goes on through out the year. (or at least twice a year).
Dear Anon @ September 29, 2015 at 7:34 AM,
Thanks very much for your feedback on IIT-D. Will keep my fingers crossed, waiting on my application to engg dept!
Newb
@anon wondering about Inspire fellowship (Institute mode):
The guidelines are given at the web site. It is not just a matter of preparing some documents and sending. For Institution mode, there has to be a screening committee with chair and members drawn from a list that is there at the web site. This screening committee is supposed to send a recommendation to DST under Institution mode.
Dear Prof. Sriram,
Thank you for your reply. I think I had missed this key information about screening committee, it is clearly displayed here http://www.inspire-dst.gov.in/INSTITUTE_mode.html
Thanks again.
PS
Hi,
This is regarding ongoing recruitment at IIT-D. I would like to know about Physics Dept. Is shortlisting already done ? Does anyone has any information on this ? Thanking you in advance.
Dear Prof. Madras and Prof. Sriram,
Kindly give me some advice for the campus visit (talk plus interaction with faculty) I will have shortly at IISc and an IIT.
I searched through all the comments in the blog, and I found your advice on how to attend the interview and how to give an interview talk. I am looking for specific advice on the pre-interview visit at IISc and at IIT. More specifically, I am looking for your inputs on how to interact with faculty, how to prepare for the day, what to do before and after visit, and also your advice for the talk as well.
Thanks in advance,
Balaji.
@Anonymous New Faculty Aspirant said...September 29, 2015 at 10:54 PM
Please see the comment on September 29, 2015 at 7:34 AM above !!!! and kindly read between the lines :)
Interesting turn of events.
IISc AP Aero. Thanks for your valuable inputs. Indian science is progressing and will make it to the top in the near future. We need to drop old and non-performing baggage. Perhaps a tenure-track system.
Those who think tenure-track system does not exist in India, just check how officers are promoted in Indian Army. An IAS/ IPS can reach top (if permitted by age) but an Army officer will retire at Maj/ Lt. Col if they do not perform and clear the staff college. we can have a similar system in academia/ DRDO.
HOD/ Chairs abroad have more power than Chairs in India. They can hire/fire faculty and other staff. They can increase/decrease dept. funding for salary, equipment money and so on. They go around and look for talent in conferences/ follow papers. They decide which direction department should take. For example in electronics and communication, one dept can focus on radar system and other department with the same name can go for 4G 5G and so on. But they are hired because of their skills. Believe me they do shout and show their unhappiness by sending memos/ mails/ and in meetings. They have to present annual report to the deans office about funding, number of publications, other significant news like patents.
In India, as Prof. Sriram mentioned HODs, are for short durations. They are generally selected on the basis of turns (if I am not wrong). Rarely a department at IITM will go to IITB and hire a Professor to become a chair. It does happen but all other professor stop cooperating as seen in the last 5 years. And chair do not really care about grants and papers as he has no power to fire anyone for non-performance. So they do what they can do. That is show some attitude and power to others. There are excellent chairs and IISER Pune is a good example. So are IIT Kanpur depts.
In meetings abroad, they introduce themselves as I am Prof. XYZ, chair of dept of super science at IIT Timbaktu. No where they will say I am Prof. XYZ working on remote sensing and mathematical modeling. This was the funny conversation I had. I actually asked do you really do science or just chair the dept. Chair person from IIT Timbaktu was baffled as how dare an Indian postdoc questioning or asking about his science? His answer, we do but it is not relevant for this scientific meeting! So why are you here? I rest my case.
@ Indian Scientist September 30, 2015 at 7:27 PM:
Super like...thumbs up :)
Dear Prof. Madras and Prof. Sriram,
Kindly give me some advice for the campus visit (talk plus interaction with faculty) I will have shortly at IISc and an IIT.
I searched through all the comments in the blog, and I found your advice on how to attend the interview and how to give an interview talk. I am looking for specific advice on the pre-interview visit at IISc and at IIT. More specifically, I am looking for your inputs on how to interact with faculty, how to prepare for the day, what to do before and after visit, and also your advice for the talk as well.
Thanks in advance,
Hi,
Regarding ongoing IIT-D recruitment. Has the shortlisting for Mechanical Engg Dept been completed and candidates notified? Please share if anyone on this forum is aware.
Thanks.
Anon@ October 1, 2015 at 8:56 PM:
Have you read?
http://giridharmadras.blogspot.in/2011/05/interviews.html
Be prepared to spend the whole day from 9:30 am to 8 pm talking and listening. Read about the department and its faculty. Ask questions about things that are not available on the website.
After the talk, keep in touch with the faculty you liked most.
Dear Prof. Giri,
Thank you for the specific advice on visiting the department. Yes, I did read the link that you provided in your comment. However, I will read it again to see if I missed some advice regarding campus visit.
Thanks,
Dear Professor Sriram,
Can you please tell in detail about medical leave in IITs.
Thanks,
Dear Prof. Giri/Sriram
Could you please tell about the fate of sponsored project(like DST) in case one moves from one IIT to other IIT. Is it transferable like equipment etc.?
IIT fac
Does anyone has update about the short-listing of EE dept for the ongoing IIT-D recruitment?
A pity. This game changing move to increase fees to the cover operating expenses was sidestepped due to cowardice masquerading as some sort of higher responsibility. Such sickening socialism and posturing.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/plan-to-hike-iit-fee-on-hold/article7731337.ece
As publicly funded institutions, don't IITs have a responsibility to excel, to be logical and viable? Or do they want to claim that they are some baba's ashram that will give subsidized education/treatment etc to all?
All new faculty hopefuls, be aware that you will also feel the pain of spineless decision making. Join only if you also want to live a life posturing to be a self-sacrificing baba.
Can someone comment on the quality of the education at IIT campus schools?
I assume that in most of the situations one can't afford (logistically/financially)
private schools outside.
Anonymous at October 7, 2015 at 12:48 PM who is worried about no hike in the IIT tuition fee:
Free market capitalism works well in most cases but it's known to fail when it comes to essentials like health and education. Look at the developed economies of the world (outside of USA) - Germany, Switzerland, UK, Japan, Australia and see how the successful universities operate there.
Increasing tuition fee is not the solution. Increasing funding through industry-sponsored research, government grants and alumni donation should be the preferred route.
Hi Prof. Giri and hello everyone on the blog,
I have been shortlisted for interview for the DST-INSPIRE Faculty Program (post doctoral fellowship). I applied in the direct mode (without any nomination from Institute or Faculty). I am currently abroad but will permanently move back to India by end of December this year.
Ques.1 Anyone has any insights on the interview process? Specifically what the panel would like to look for in the candidates, apart from academic knowledge?
Ques.2 I have been asked to submit a one(1) page synopsis highlighting my bio-data, publications, achievements, etc - I am not sure what to put in there - Does this mean I just have to pick and chose the highlights of my career so far and jot them down in 1page? Should I include a very brief description of my Ph.D work and future project ideas?
I would really appreciate any help from anyone, especially whoever has gone through the process.
Thank You
Best
-Arunava
Dear Arunava,
For the presentation: Prepare no more that 15 slides. They would like to see the problem you are attempting for the inspire fellowship. Also include few slides on the research you have done.
They want a one page CV. Put everything in one page. You don't have to go into great detail, for example you can say Publications: Journal xxx (2 papers), Journal yyy (1 paper), instead of giving all the details. Another example: Academic profile: UG (college, xx%), PG (college, yy%), PhD (univ).
Good luck for you interview.
Is it compulsory for Assistant Professor hire to stay on IIT/NIT campus if accommodation is available or he can stay outside also?
Thanks in advance
Anon @ October 12, 2015 at 2:24 AM
It's not compulsory for a faculty to stay in the campus acco. I know a few, from an IIT and IISc, who are staying outside.
Thanks anon above.
In case someone stays at campus does he forego the complete HRA or he has to pay a fixed license fee?
Yes, one has to forgo HRA and has to pay a nominal license fee. See the below links for more details:
http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/~sriram/survival_2013.pdf
http://www.iitb.ac.in/sites/default/files/Faculty-Handbook-2014.pdf
Thanks for the valuable links.
Also many thanks to the author of these documents.
Is it allowed for a faculty at IIT to write articles/editorials in media
discussing government policies (except about IIT) or social issues?
rephrasing
Is it allowed for a faculty at IIT to write articles/editorials in media
discussing government policies (excluding IIT related topics) or social issues?
Conduct rules for IIT (IITM actually) employees: "No employee shall, except with the previous sanction of competent authority ... contribute any article or write any letter ... to any newspaper or periodical ...". "Provided that no such sanction shall be required if ... is of purely literary, artistic or scientific character ... and should not touch upon administrative matters. They shall be free from all political tinge". There is some room for interpretation of above. A faculty member whose research area includes IPR, could write an article about National IP Policy issues as a scientific article. Further "No employee shall ... in any public utterance, make any statement of fact or opinion which has the effect of an adverse criticism of any current or recent policy or action of the Institute or which is capable of embarrassing the relations between the Institute and (... government)". The decision of the Board of Governors on all questions relating to the interpretation of these provisions shall be final.
I think India does provide considerable amount of freedom of speech as long as you're not making really stupid and provocative statements. Criticising the government policies is always a tricky business, though.
Prof. Dheeraj Sanghi of IITK frequently writes about (including criticism of) government policies related to higher education and IIT in general. http://dsanghi.blogspot.com From what I know, he's still out of jail :) However, he writes on his blog and rarely publishes his views in a newspaper.
Is an article on -
defense procurement from an Aerospace professor/
on Social issues from humanities prof/
pricing of gas blocks from mining prof/
will be considered scientific article?
Are these "capable of embarrassing the relations between the Institute and (... government)" and thus you can not call a spade as spade if that spade is from Government?
In all such matters, I think IITs rely hugely on iron curtains to ensure that whatever happens inside, remains inside. They don't have the self-confidence in their policies to allow reasonable freedoms (outside of standard academic freedoms) to their employees. There is a general level of insecurity in the administration, which perhaps stems from knowing their own limitations, but reluctance to humbly accept the insecurity. Instead the tendency is to act grandiose, like the emperor with no clothes.
Hi,
Is the faculty short-listing for engineering departments (for ongoing recruitment at IITD) over?
Thanks
Hi!
I was also wondering if the shortlisting of candidates of ongoing recruitment at IITD is over? Has any candidate been notified yet?
To Anonymous at July 6, 2012 at 11:06 PM and July 7, 2012 at 1:27 AM
https://recruit.iitd.ac.in/recap/advt0215.pdf
^^Thats list of 'Total Final Submitted Candidates' and not of short-listed candidates.
The list above is against the advertisement advt2015-E1. I had applied before that Advt141210, and hence my name is not there. There is also no list available for Advt141210. Anyone with a similar situation?
I also had applied against 141210 and my name is not on the list assuming it is about all those who applied online.
Hi
I appeared for teaching and research presentation at IIT KGP Engineering in end August.
But still didn't hear from them.
Anybody got interview call from IIT KGP ?
Have INSPIRE awardees (either new or old) been receiving their funds? I am awaiting acknowledgement for months. Any idea what has happened to it?
Have INSPIRE awardees (either new or old) been receiving their funds? I am awaiting acknowledgement for months. Any idea what has happened to it?
Hi Ankur
No news regarding funds. I submitted my documents in Feb, and still waiting for their reply! Tried many times but no help.
PK
Hi Ankur,
No INSPIRE Faculty fund has arrived yet. I am waiting for my salary and funding since May 2015.
Would be glad to get any news.
Ruta
Hi Professors from IISc and IITs,
Is it true that Govt of India is cutting down funding for research in India by 50%?
I am joining one of IITs as assistant professor in Dec. 2015 and I plan to apply for the next Inspire Faculty Scheme.
What is 12th percentage criterion for this scheme? According to a document available on DST website, many candidates could not qualify 12th percentage cut-off.
Thanks
Anonymous@October 28, 2015 at 8:43 PM
May you please post DST link....just curious to know that they actually look for 12th percentage..
@October 28, 2015 at 8:43 PM October 28, 2015 at 10:52 PM
@Anonymous@October 28, 2015 at 8:43 PM
I am not sure Probably it has to do with HSC examination (12th board examination) percentage/marks cut off ???
But just guessing.
Anyone got interview call from IIT Kgp Engineering?
Anonymous@ October 29, 2015 at 6:39 PM
I don't think so.
I know a few, who have applied at IIT-Kgp and IIT-Delhi in Engineering, they are yet to receive any details about short-listing.
Anyone got call from IITB?
Nobody from the department respond to emails regarding the application status!
@ October 29, 2015 at 7:29 PM Thanks for sharing the information about KGP.
Anon above: Only IITB? I have almost same experience with all IITs.
They are too busy taking Indian research to world class levels!
Anony I agree IIT Profs are busy in doing science, teaching and also meeting directors.
At the same time, we have to accept the fact that there are several 100 applications received by new and several 1000 applications by Old IITs. It may not be possible for Chairs to reply to every single mail as they do not have assistants.
IITs are known for technical education, perhaps they can make everything online (minimum by three options visible to candidates, Reject, Accept and Decision awaited). While browsing applicants, Chair can either chose Reject or Decision awaited. After interviews again they can click on accept or reject!.
If they cannot do that, they can simply write
Applicants who have not received replies within 45 days of application submission should presume they are rejected!
Based on my experience, I think that administration at IIT feel that they are doing favor to candidates by hiring them. One professor told me that they like to bring out the worst in a candidate, really? All worldwide good recruiters, industry and academia, go a step further to hire a candidate and make accomodative provisions if they think the candidate is good enough.
IITs are tech institutes. How difficult is it to build an online application tracking system so the professors won't have to communicate? IITB doesn't even have the online submission system. These institutes have to respect the time of candidates as well in a professional manner, only then they would be able to attract world class talent.
I have seen the list of candidates for every department in each year, there are not more than 15-20 candidates for assistant professor application in any institute. Please correct me if I am wrong! I don't think it's that difficult to reply to their emails. If there are some procedural constraint, there should be some kind of norm as how to address the queries of students.
@anon who has "seen the list of candidates for every department in each year" and requests "correct me if I am wrong!" - well, you are wrong, at least with respect to IITM. As @Indian Scientist surmises, I would think numbers are similar at all the old IITs. In the 2015 cycle (appointment offers issued in July 2015), here is the count of AP applicants at IITM, department-wise: AE 24, AM 58, CH 65, CY 141, CE 31, CS 97, EE 120, ED 32, HS 148, MS 82, MA 94, ME 88, MM 45, OE 15 and PH 187. Some of the departments may have had reduced count as they had advertised only for very specific areas - only AM, CS, ME and PH had advertised for "all areas". Thats a total of over 1200 applications in 16 departments and in 2014, it was a bit lower at about 950. IITM has run a second dated advertisement (for AP only) about 10 days ago with closing date of Nov 9, only 8 departments participating and only CS looking for all areas, about 120 applications so far.
Thanks Prof iitmsriram.
Is it possible to know the tentative timeline for the recent IITM advertisement, like when will be shortlisting and interview done? This will help candidates from abroad, who may want to accordingly plan their Christmas vacation.
Thanks
"How difficult is it to build an online application tracking system so the professors won't have to communicate?"
There are two parts to building anything -- knowing how to build and getting people to build. IITs have the know-how for plenty of things. What they don't have are the people, the systems, the powers and the accountability to ensure that they want to get built, is in fact built. IIT administrators must feel like someone who owns a hundred expensive cars, but doesn't have the driving license, nor a license to hire a driver. On rare occasions he is able to cajole someone he knows to drive him around in one of his cars, but this is not sustainable. But when he wants to impress the outside world, he show offs the cars he owns and feels good about himself.
Like the centralised IIT JEE why not build a central pool for faculty applicants?
I think all IITs have more or less same criteria.
The applicants can indicate their respective choice institutes or just submit their
profile stored on a common server to respective IIT when they float an advertisement.
This will save money for IITs and hassle of maintaining selection portal and
for candidates the pain of filling multiple forms!
Also to it can be tagged an auto alert which a candidate will receive
once the profile is submitted, shortlisted and accepted/rejected plus further alerts.
For this single portal a decent IT firm can be hired quite affordable I guess!
SM
The faculty-recruitment system that is currently in place at IIT Madras is probably the best one among IITs. I went through the process two recruitment-seasons ago and the previous statement is my personal opinion based on that experience. One good thing about the online portal they have in place at IITM is this:
The candidate uploads everything in one place - even if applying to multiple departments - and he/she knows exactly the status of his/her application at any given time (within say few days of decision being made). This saves the need for writing to the department for a status-update and waiting for an answer from the chairman at every stage of the recruitment process. Not knowing the status of the application is a very common reason (and sometimes, the only reason) for frustration among faculty candidates. IITM handles this very well.
Note: I am currently an Asst. Prof. in IISc.
Good one @ankur.
IITs do UG admissions jointly through JEE. We can't agree on co-ordinating even M.Tech. or Ph.D. admissions, I don't see co-ordinated faculty recruitment. M.Tech. admissions are a mess because of lack of co-ordination, but life goes on.
Thanks @vijay.
And, the timeline for current IITM ad will come up at the portal. Shortlisting is expected to be completed by end of November and Interviews are planned in early to mid December, offer letters expected before the new year.
Thanks Prof iitmsriram for the timeline.
Kumar
@iitmsriram, Anon: Perhaps "centralized" recruitment is too hard (and maybe not even advisable) to do, but one thing in this direction that will certainly be good for everyone concerned is having a centralized system for managing application materials (so that individual institutions are spared the trouble of maintaining chores like keeping track of uploaded files etc.). Ironically, the American Mathematical Society in the US has a very good and popular system for this, but neither ACM nor IEEE (the CS and EE professional bodies) has anything close.
@ Ankur
I believe the most important part is willingness.... to build something.
And as they say where there is a will there is a way!
SM
The last date for online submission for IIT Madras Faculty position is 9th November. When we should ask our refereees to send their letters? Is it before 9th or after shortlisting? Thanks.
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/42-in-kharagpur-roorkee-39-in-bombay-faculty-short-across-iits/
Must read
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/growing-influence-of-coaching-classes-change-in-jee-criteria-has-failed-to-achieve-the-desired-objective/
@SM: In the article you posted, I'm particularly intrigued by the comment
"Rs 1,50,000 crore is a lot more than the annual budget of all IITs and NITs put-together"
Interesting observation :)
The article is written by (at least the paper claims)
http://www.che.iitb.ac.in/online/node/52
and I assume that he is aware about the budget of IITs & NITs
Anyone heard anything from IITD and IITB for interviews?
@Anon November 19, 2015 at 3:58 AM:
It seems B and D haven't yet shortlisted the candidates.
Kumar
Interviews are being scheduled for this week at IITB.
Anonymous @ November 19, 2015 at 7:33 AM
Have the candidates been already notified?
Anonymous@November 19, 2015 at 10:56 AM:
Yes and the interviews are going on.
@SM: about the article on JEE coaching.
I'm not questioning the accuracy of that number. I agree that an IIT professor would check his data before publishing in a newspaper.
I'm just saying that I find it amusing how the budget of coaching industry dwarves the budget of all IITs and NITs put together. A very weird state of affairs.
Thats why the government should approve the Foreign Education Bill
http://finmin.nic.in/7cpc/7cpc_report_eng.pdf
Kumar
Hi
Does anyone has any information about the shortlisting of recent IIT-D advertisement for Engineering departments?
Thanks
Kumar
"Rs 1,50,000 crore is a lot more than the annual budget of all IITs and NITs put-together"
Of course it is. But I have my doubts about some of these numbers. What Prof. Kannan Maudgalya (KM) appears to have done is take the figure of USD40 billion (estimated as mentioned in the article) and assumed that, say, 60% of the total coaching turnover can be attributed to JEE coaching. However, if we consider that about 10 lakh students take the JEE (Main), this translates into an average coaching expenditure of Rs. 15 lakhs per candidate. I seriously doubt this figure can be correct, I suspect this figure may be off by something like a 100 factor. This is average expenditure - so please don't give me stories about "I know this uncle's friend's nephew who spent 20 lakhs for JEE coaching" to prove this estimate. Of the 10 lakhs writing JEE (Main), I would suspect about half to spend little or nothing on coaching simply because that is all they can afford. I also don't think JEE could contribute to 60% of all coaching - there is probably more money in GATE coaching, UPSC (civil services) coaching, GRE / GMAT / CAT coaching etc.
But, the basic point is in the right direction - there is probably more money in JEE coaching than in running the IITs. And (the more important point from the article) I tend to agree with Prof. KM's point that we should consider IITs exiting the UG domain and instead work on strengthening the thousands of other colleges (somewhat ironically, both Prof. KM and yours truly are UG products of IITM). The annual budget of IITs and NITs is a publicly known figure, it is there in the Union budget document (mostly). IITs (especially old) all have more income and expenditure through sponsored projects, consulting engagements etc, but this too is documented in the annual reports of the IITs which are mostly available in the IIT websites. As a quick number, we can use 500 crores as budget figure for old IITs and about half that for new IITs, so the total budget for IITs is of the order of 10,000 crores.
Not much to do with prospective faculty of IIX ...
7th pay commission recommendation and its impact on IIT/IISc Professor's salary?
The coaching problem cannot be fixed by tweaking the JEE. I don't think the JEE is the problem. The problem is high demand and low supply.
Agree with Ankur.
Career trajectory of an average IIT graduate is much better than that of an average NIT student, which in turn is much better than that of an average graduate from a private engg. college.
It's a matter of few marks in JEE that can decide whether a student studies at an IIT or an NIT. Hence, anyone who can even barely afford coaching, pays up to try and ensure a better future for their ward.
To minimise the impact of coaching, we need to reduce the gulf between different tiers of engineering education available in the country. I sincerely hope that it is done by improving the performance of lower institutions instead of pulling down IITs.
As iitmsriram mentions - not much to do with prospective faculty of IIX.
Are there any details out yet about the effects of 7th pay commission's recommendations on IIT professors's salary? It seems that they are doing away with the grade pay system.
The report is here: http://finmin.nic.in/7cpc/7cpc_report_eng.pdf
It is 900 pages and high on generalities. Those who are interested can try to figure things out. At first glance I saw that none of the grade pays mentioned here cover the AGPs that IITs have. Hence it is not clear if this report even applies to IITs.
Thanks Ankur for the document. Yes, nothing about AGPs.
On page 664, I found this:
"11.24.13 At the outset, it should be made clear that University Lecturers do not fall under the ambit of the Commission and they follow a pay structure that is different from Central Government employees. For e.g. their pay structure includes Grade Pays of ₹6000, ₹7000, ₹8000, ₹9000, etc. which are not present in the current pay structure of Central Government employees."
This paragraph is in Chapter 11.24 - Ministry of Human Resources. It appears (to me) that the Commission has exempted itself from revising the pay scales of teaching staff in institutions that fall under the MHRD. However, the Commission does talk about teaching staff in medical institutions and makes some recommendations.
On page 614, I find this:
"They (the Hindi Pradhyapaks) take classes of 40-45 hours per week whereas Assistant Professors (GP 6000) take classes of 16 hours in a week with 30 hours of weekly availability".
The Commission also talks about Studio Boy and Boom Man. There is also a category called Multi Tasking Staff!
OK, it appears folks are not aware how IIX faculty salaries are revised during pay commissions. There is a separate committee set up and this will look at the pay commission report and consult with stake holders before making its recommendations to the government. Last time, this was the Govardhan Mehta committee, we can expect a similar committee soon.
INSPIRE Faculty awardees, take a look at the consolidated sanction letters posted on the page:
http://www.inspire-dst.gov.in/faculty_scheme.html
For prospective Directors-
http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/anil-kakodkar-tried-to-illegally-appoint-his-nominee-in-iit-smriti-irani-to-ndtv-1246998
Politicians love to make scandalous statements. Let's see if any proof can be found of this alleged irregularity.
I am not a supporter of any political figure but history of our own selection committees for IITs/IIMs/IISc/IISER/Central Univs etc is in front of us.
Here is my attempt to summarize it
http://newinstitutesindia.blogspot.com/
Here are my suggestions
http://indianscienceleaders.blogspot.com/
We have to agree that Director's selection is extremely biased and unprofessional in our beloved country. If some one is justifying that they are doing a great job please see the list in my summary and comment. Political leadership may not be correct but at the same time our elite seniors made the situation worst for themselves.
"We have to agree that Director's selection is extremely biased and unprofessional in our beloved country."
It is not unprofessional..the director of iisc and old iits are the best from the country. Who would you like to elect as a director? the blog owner ??
There are problems in hiring people from outside the IIT system.
People who write like you mostly like want to serve on the selection committees themselves and push their own candidates.
@Ruta, thanks! That INSPIRE sanction order list is inspiring, but does not seem to have mine or the names of several others I know. Is there anyone whose name is not in the list and has yet received some communication from DST?
Just heard that a person whose paper was retracted from science for unethical reason is appointed at JNU
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/341/6143/257.abstract
Do we have any information on this particular recruitment at the JNU? Will JNU take any action? Will this recruitment hold good in the Western institute?
Such retraction will automatically result in close scrutiny of all the papers published by a particular author. This particular person did his PhD at IIT M.
Notice from science,
In follow-up research by some of the coauthors, suspicion arose with regard to data collected by the first author Rabindra N. Mahato, which led to a thorough investigation by the co-authors. This investigation has revealed inappropriate data handling by Dr. Mahato, such that the experimental results are not accurately represented in the paper. This makes it, in our eyes, impossible to solidly underpin the conclusions made in the report. All co-authors have therefore concluded that the paper should be immediately retracted. Dr. Mahato has agreed to this Retraction.
I think I touched a very fragile nerve ;) of Anony at November 25, 2015 at 9:02 PM
"People who write like you mostly like want to serve on the selection committees themselves and push their own candidates."
I seriously wish I had that power or get appointed as a Director. It is too early for me to even think about that. I am grateful that I do not have such responsibility or else I will be forced to appoint Directors from ONLY chemistry background in all IISERs in our country as evident from all the appointments. Perhaps we can use the statement written above
There are problems in hiring people from outside the IIT system.
as
There are problems in hiring people from outside the CHEMISTRY system.
Thank you SIR
-"There are problems in hiring people from outside the CHEMISTRY system. --"
-This is a veiled comment against CNR Rao by a person who has not even achieved 10% of his achievements
the people from chemistry background appointed in iisers have the best h-index among chemists. so academically they are very good. actually, their h-index is better than all physicists and biologists, mathematicians. They are fellows of all academies etc. Yes, h-index and fellowships may not reflect administrative capability but that is a criteria for selection.
You praise Balaram in your blog..on what admin excellence was he selected as director of iisc it was based on h-index, bhatnagar, fellowships etc,
I had applied at IITD for AP in Engineering and recently came to know that my application was rejected as I had crossed 35 (have worked in relevant industry for 7 years before starting PhD).
Does it hold for all IITs?
Should I wait for other application outcomes or leave my postdoc to join industry?
No Sir
I have no problem against CHEMISTRY or Dr. CNR Rao. Few academicians treat him as a God of Indian science and we should not be commenting on God of any religion or will be labeled as intolerant. (that was easing up the stress just in case).
Though I must admit with lots of respect and humbleness that my achievement is not even 0.1% of Dr. CNR Rao or anyone in this elite blog. My 'H' index is in negative as even if some one cited my paper they presented it as a wrong result so a single negative citation (H= -1)!
This is the first time we are hearing that there are no equivalent (good) people in physics, biology or mathematics in India. We are the leading Chemistry researchers in the world. Our h-index or timbaktu-index is better than the whole world and it will get us a NOBEL or perhaps something bigger.
I praised few leaders from Indian science for their leadership and not science. One of them established a TIFR Biology in the IISc campus and now it has its own building and is better than everything else in India. A great leader can be a non-scientist too. Let us have a look at some of the 'not so elite' universities.
Harvard: Dr. Faust (History)
Stanford: Dr. Hennessy (Electrical engineering)
MIT: Dr. Rafael (Electrical engineering)
Yale: Dr. Salovey (Social Psychologist)
Penn: Dr. Gutmann (Political Science)
UC: Janet Napolitano (Politician/ Civil servant)
Caltech: Dr. Rosenbaum (Physics)
Brown: Dr. Paxson (Economics)
Cambridge: Sir Borysiewicz (Immunology)
Oxford: Dr. Richardson (Political science)
And this list can keep growing. Our elite members can read about Presidents/ leaders of top 500 Univs in the world. They come from all subjects irrespective of whether it is Harvard or Timbaktu.
Though Harvard/Yale etc.had a choice from several NOBEL winners and oh yes people with 'H'-index bigger than their height in mms, they selected leaders from diverse fields.
Now have a look at our Indian institutes.
Gender: Shhhh let us not bring it here.
Subject: All ISERs.. Chemistry, Chemistry, Chemistry, Chemistry .. and it can keep going to Chemistry. Now we know that in India if you want to be the leader you should be from Chemistry.
Bottom line
For heaven sake you are planning to make a world-class institute and you need to select leaders who can lead, not just people with HUGE h-index (an inflated EGOs) and from one particular field. It is fishy.
I think this is really going way outside prospective faculty issues. But, what the heck, I will also chime in. It is pointless to compare with western University administrative set ups as we don't have an admin track in India. In India, we don't believe in the cadre of educational (or science) administrators, we believe good (award winning) scientists will make good science administrators - which does not work much of the time. Fortunately for us, as the number of Institutions is small (say, old IITs and IISc), we luck out and are able to find good scientists who are also good science administrators. This is not a scalable model and does not work once we start spreading out to the new IITs, IISERs, NITs etc. - we get the choice of good scientists who make lousy administrators or politicking types. If you look at the pool of Director applicants for new IITs or better yet, NITs, you will start thinking.
Prof. Sriram,
My apologies for vomiting about selection of directorship. I think too much of our media influence on my over firing neurons.
I have heard about discussions about this conversation in recent YIMs in India, Cambridge and Boston. So prospective faculty candidates are reading our comments and are realizing that pictures painted by Directors at YIMs is far away from what is actually happening through our discussions. I am partially responsible but glad that they know what is in the basket for them.
1. Cut in CSIR budget (negative)
2. If not in Chemistry no hope to become future leaders at IISERs (negative for everyone except chemistry)
3. Time bound promotions (positive for some and negative for others)
4. No interference from other staff in research (positive)
5. Annual salary increase and salary doubling or more after every 10 years (positive)
6. Scientists do not speak against seniors openly (negative) or cannot criticize politicians unlike West (negative)
7. Excellent startup at most new institutes but a capped budget at IIT (OLD) and IISc.
8. Science does not matter, h-index.. impact factor does (positive for some and negative for others)
Hope our discussions will keep growing and new applicants can learn a lot. Eventhough I do not agree with some view points of several individuals but we have to admire contributions of Prof. Madras, Prof. Sriram and others who give ground report from the field (institutes). This THREAD is one of the most useful thread for prospective candidates in India and there is hardly any other intense thread in Europe/ USA/ Japan or Korea. There is a an equivalent thread by an academy in China but it is hard to follow the truth due to obvious reasons. Once again salute to everyone here.
Here is my view on faculty recruitments in our country
http://indianfaculty.blogspot.com/
Sorry to break the intense line of discussion here, but if anyone is interested Ramanujan fellowship results for this cycle are declared. Apparently they put up the list of all candidates on their website (but no information by email).
In other news, the surrealists at UGC have produced yet another Dadaist masterpiece: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/education/story/ugc/1/524607.html
In short, they are asking BITS and TIFR (among others) to close down "campuses" that have existed since 2004 under regulations that came in force in 2010. And they want this done in a month. And among the "illegal" centers is a research center of the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI).
I think there is only one hypothesis that fits the facts: that there are people in UGC that want the UGC to be closed down as soon as possible.
"I think there is only one hypothesis that fits the facts: that there are people in UGC that want the UGC to be closed down as soon as possible. "
@S Why do you think so? How about the possibility that the UGC has become more brazen and emboldened of late?
No, apparently they have been trying to do something like this since 2010, according to the response posted by BITS. In fact, it seems that they have already tried this exact same move once before and the rule under which they are proceeding was then declared unconstitutional by a court in Karnataka.
Here is the BITS response: http://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/Uploads/Message_from_Acting_Vice_Chancellor_on_UGC_notice_19_11_2015.pdf
Also, I tend to believe in the old maxim: "never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence". The fact that UGC goes into such silly battles again and again and mostly leaves with the status quo maintained (when they took on IISc a few years ago, all they managed was changing the name of the course) point more to petulant incompetence and studied malice.
I am also awaiting the second installment of my inspire faculty award research grant. I got an sms a month ago that my documents have been approved but still not received the sanction letter, my name is not there in consolidated list mentioned above. There is no update on the portal as well. Any updates?
http://www.dailyo.in/politics/indian-education-system-narendra-modi-2015-open-doors-report-mhrd/story/1/7455.html
Nice article SM. However, one aspect that articles such as these ignore that a majority of students who go abroad for education and pay fee (for courses such as MS and MBa) eventually aim to get a job in US or UK and to eventually have the possibility to immigrate.
Even if we provide fantastic education in India, it will be challenging to keep such students at home. I do agree though, that better educational opportunities in India will help to a large extent.
@S draws our attention thusly "according to the response posted by BITS. In fact, it seems that they have already tried this exact same move once before and the rule under which they are proceeding was then declared unconstitutional by a court in Karnataka." A number of deemed universities in Tamil Nadu have taken the very same matter to Madras High Court which has upheld the validity of these regulation. So, we have a difference of opinion between Madras and Karnataka High Courts, to be resolved by the Supreme Court.
@iitmsriram: Thanks for clarifying; I wasn't aware of the Chennai High Court complication, and the impression I got from the BITS response was that the case had gone to the SC in the natural course of an appeal.
To bring the discussion back to the topic of the current thread, I had a question about this: what does it mean for UGC to declare that a TIFR or IVRI center is illegal? As an IVRI member pointed out in a news article, the center declared "illegal" is simply a research center, not a deemed university. Things are even more complicated for TIFR, which, if I understand correctly, is not under MHRD jurisdiction at all. Also, it likely has several research centers (such as telescope facilities, observatories, etc., and more recently the ICTS in Bangalore). Does UGC really claim to have the authority to declare such facilities "illegal"?
Perhaps I didn't make it clear why my question is relevant for the thread. Apologies.
I will be an applicant at least one TIFR center in the near future, and I wanted to know a little about what such maneuverings for TIFR mean for such centers? (All of which, as far as I can gather, are doing quite well academically).
Dear Prof Sriram
Is there any update on the short-listing of recent iitm advert?
Thanks
@anon IITM applicant, the shortlisting is in progress; updates will be posted at the applications web site. Interviews are expected late Dec and maybe even early Jan.
About UGC vs deemed universities; does not matter if an Institution is under MHRD or not, in fact does not matter if the institution is government or private. IISc is a (government MHRD) deemed university, SRM is a (private) deemed university, there are other deemed universities under other ministries. UGC is empowered to regulate universities and deemed universities and the degree of regulational authority is one of the subject matters of debate. UGC might like to believe they can "totally" control, say, IITM, through regulations, I might feel that UGC has no authority over IITM. But all that is not the matter of concern in this current spat. Generally, Universities are recognised for 'a' campus. In the past, there would traditionally be a single campus and over time, perhaps additional campuses with separate facilities but somehow (how?) clearly recognisable as a single entity within the city / state. Bombay University started as the Fort campus, but over time, everything but the administrative offices have moved out of this to the Kalina campus. And now there are other campuses. Madras University started with its Chepauk campus which now houses essentially administrative units but there are other campuses where the academic departments are housed. In some sense, all this can be thought of as a single unit. And, both Bombay and Madras universities have a large number of recognised affiliated colleges within their respective states. Look at BITS. The "main" campus is at Pilani. Now, they have opened "centres" at Goa, Hyderabad etc etc. Are these part of the entity in Pilani? UGC would like for BITS Goa to separately apply to UGC for deemed university status and be recognised separately - this is what the UGC regulations (that are under challenge in court) require. This is not something that any deemed university wants to do. TIFR is deemed university in Bombay. The would like to simply think of the Hyderabad unit as another part of the Bombay campus, but UGC is requiring the Hyderabad unit to be separately assessed and separately get deemed university status. I don't think this this is an unreasonable expectation. There is no issue with having a lab somewhere else if somehow the "main" campus is still clearly the only campus - but if there is some element of operating independently and the name of the main campus is conveniently used only in issuing degree certificates, it would appear to be in violation of the UGC regulations. The only escape that is likely to be claimed successfully is if the "centres" were started before 2010 when UGC got smart to this and issued the revised guidelines (requiring separate centres to be treated as separate entities to be assesses separately). Of course, the difficult part is determining if a centre is an independent centre or just a remote lab.
Thanks Prof. Sriram for the update on interviews.
Kumar
The best thing would be for UGC to shut up.
The idea that a university can be recognized for only one campus is like saying that a restaurant chain or a courier company should have every outlet declared as a separate company. I think this is silly.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/education/indore-varsity-iit-at-loggerheads-over-non-payment-of-rent/story-E056jhXaanSdyIPX5dRzxK.html?utm_source=LI&utm_medium=most-popular
A sorry state of affairs.
Dear Prof. Sriram,
I did see in the IIT Madras website that the campus is safe. I hope you are in safe grounds, too, and I hope your family and relatives have successfully battled the rain.
I am a prospective faculty and benefited very much from the information you provided in this blog. You have also directly replied to many of my queries regarding faculty openings.
Regards
@ankur thinks separate accreditation / recognition for separate campuses is silly. But this is what every accreditation body in the world that I know of does. If you have a separate campus with its own faculty etc, that gets evaluated separately. If you have a remote lab with the same people in the "parent" campus going there to access some resources, then it is not taken separately.
And, thanks, IITM campus is doing OK. We were without power for 3 days but we are back on now. Power outage was widespread, so most communications went down. Cells were first to go, but eventually bulk of landlines also went off line. Net connectivity was on throughout if one could somehow link up!
Hello Prospective Faculty,
I am awaiting for an interview call from IISc for faculty positions. Kindly let me know if any of you have received interview calls until now.
Any update on the above query will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Considering that most of the IITXs, IISCs, and other institutes are in their final stages of shortlisting, I will really appreciate if faculty applicants can post updates if they get an email or interview call.
Thanks
Anyone got call for interview at IIT Kharagpur Mech/Aero or other Engineering?
Recently, I got call for departmental presentation and faculty interaction from IIT Delhi (Sci. div.).
Hello, what is the approximate time taken for decision by SERB/ DBT for decision on Ramanujan/ Ramalingaswami applications? I am wanting to return to India after applying for fellowship. Is it required to be abroad at the time of accepting the fellowship?
For Ramanujan, you need to be abroad at the time of making the application.
I applied in August. I was told that there was a meeting in end of September and the results were declared in November this year.
Sorry for the ignorance and the google doesnt make it clear.
Does Ramanujan requires approval from a host institution?
Is it just for research or means that I should be selected as Assistant professor?
December 11, 2015 at 1:40 AM
You dont need to be an Assist Prof when receiving the award.
Hello Prospective Faculty,
Kindly let me know if you know when the council meeting for IISc held this month.
I am awaiting for an interview call from IISc for faculty positions. Kindly let me know if any of you have received interview calls until now.
Any update on the above query will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Does SERB announce list of selected candidates for Ramanujan fellowship? I know DBT publishes list for Ramalingaswami, but I cant find such list for Ramanujan..
Dear professors,
I read a few comments on saving from taxes. I would like to know if it is/has been possible for you to buy your own house/apartment with the salary provided (from the 6th CPC if I'm correct, also if this might be possible with the 7th or subsequent CPCs). Also, are there any special kinds of loans provided to you? I heard from a friend that there are interest free loans for buying cars, not sure how far this is true.
-PF
@anon wondering about interest free loans, as per Govt of India rules, loans (advances) for purchasing PCs, power vehicles and houses carry interest. Advances given for travel / LTC, festivals, flood relief and the like are interest free.
@PF real estate prices are sky high within the main city limits compared to 15-20 years ago.
@Prof Sriram, hope iitm is recovering from the floods. Please could you provide any update on the revised faculty shortlisting and interview timeline.
Any one has any info when is next selection committee meeting for Ramanujan fellowship? or how often does these meetings take place? thanks.
Shouldn't IITs do something about pollution?
http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/lucknow-school-iit-madras-are-most-polluted-places-in-the-country-report-1254873
@SM, don't be over eager. Pl. check the url again!
Prof Sriram: kindly share update on iitm faculty recruitment schedule.
- somewhat eager :)
@iitmsriram: Congrats for cleaning it up so fast :)
@somewhat-eager-anon (good one!), shortlisting is in progress, expected to be completed by the end of the month only, so interviews can be expected in Jan.
I can't take any credit for the "clean up", colleagues in Civil Engineering who work on this took care of that. To their credit, given the facts (the air quality monitoring station on IITM campus went down during the floods, as did the other two stations in Chennai; they all came back on, when the water receded and power came back on, but there is some maintenance work required before the data coming out is reliable), NDTV pulled the story really quick leaving almost no trace. Of course, there is a valid argument that NDTV should acknowledge that they have significantly altered the story from the time it was first published. And so on ...
I had applied for a faculty position at IIT-J in Mar 2015 and gave a seminar over Skype in Oct 2015. In Nov, I contacted them again and was told that I would come to know only in Jan 2016 whether I have qualified for the next stage or not!! I don't know what to expect now.
I have also been shortlisted for INSPIRE faculty award (final result will be available in end Jan 2016, hopefully) but it is not clear if I have to apply again to IITs (where my applications are already under consideration) if I get the INSPIRE award.
Hello,
Can anyone let me know when the interviews are scheduled for departments in Division of Electrical Engineering at IISc? Is the council meeting for December at IISc this weekend?
I am prospective faculty at IISc and wanting to know some information about the interviews at IISc this session.
Thanks,
Anon@December 17, 2015 at 12:22 PM
As far as I know IIT-J currently does not have a chairman for organising the selection committee (or something like that). So in that case Jan 2016 is also quite remote.
It is really very frustrating as the process goes on and on and nobody refuses to give an answer as to what stage your application is!
What's the reason - lethargy/fear/ indifference?
Going through the selection process I strongly feel that the system is really averse to efficiency and talent. The system behaves that as if by choosing you as a faculty you are being highly obliged.
And sorry to say if this reflects in premier educational institutes I wonder what happens in other GoI offices.
"Going through the selection process I strongly feel that the system is really averse to efficiency and talent. "
IF you complain now, how much will you complain after you join?? Therefore, the system is as is..adjust now itself for the inefficiency.
What about INSPIRE fellowship? Do we have to send fresh applications (if selected for INSPIRE award) or the earlier applications would suffice?
Also, is it advisable to contact prospective host institutions in advance?
I read on this blog a comment -
"If you are looking for faculty positions in India, first get the faculty position and then apply for Ramanujan fellowship from abroad. Just like inspire fellowship, very few IITs will be willing to host you if you dont have a permanent position. "
The Ramanujam notification says -
"Ramanujan Fellowship are only for those candidates who are doing Post Doctoral abroad and not for the people who already have permanent position in a scientific organization in the country."
"If selected, the candidate has to opt for either this fellowship or his present position/fellowship, if any"
This two statements look contradictory. Can anyone please elaborate?
Thanks
"This two statements look contradictory. Can anyone please elaborate?"
Ramanujan Fellowship are only for those candidates who are doing Post Doctoral abroad and not for the people who already have permanent position. This is correct. If you get the Ramanujan fellowship and have no permanent position and come back to India, you may not get a permanent position. Therefore, people normally do not want to take Inspire/Ramanujam fellowship unless they get the permanent position. But if they get the permanent position, they can not retain the fellowship money (but can use only the contingency).
Prof. Madras,
Just to clarify: does this mean that an applicant can apply for INSPIRE/Ramanaujam in the time between they receive an offer for a permanent position and the date of joining (provided that, in the case of the Ramanujam fellowship, they are not based in India when they apply for the fellowship)?
PS: Thanks for maintaining this very helpful forum!
Prof Giri
Thanks for elaborating on Ramanujam.
Dear Prof. Giri,
Kindly let me know if I am called for an interview at IISc by the selecton committee, I will get the interview letter via E-mail?
Thanks.
IISc works slightly different. The department shortlists candidates and only those candidates are called for the interview with the selection committee. This selection committee either recommends or does not recommend the candidate. This is forwarded to the council.
Council is held on the third Saturday of Sep, Dec, Mar, Jun. For example, the council meeting was held today.
Unless you are called by the selection committee, it means you have NOT been shortlisted by the department. Yes, interview letters are sent by IISc but mostly the departments also follow up because there can be a maximum 1-2 candidates
Giridhar
Dear Prof. Giri,
Thank you very much for the detailed explanation. Your message is informative and anxiety-relieving. The information you provided is really helpful to me.
Thanks again for your time.
Ramanujam and INSPIRE was started with a noble aim. You get these fellowships, join one of the CFTI (centrally funded technical institutes like IIT/NIT) temporarily and then become permanent by performing well there. You were paid the same salary as a permanent AP. So everything was fine till..
You joined here with the fellowship but you are temporary. Many Institutes will not allow you to take students, write grants or spend the money if you are temporary. So, then how do you perform ?? Therefore, people looked for permanent positions only and were not interested in these temporary fellowships.
Therefore, people normally do not want to take Inspire/Ramanujam fellowship unless they get the permanent position. But if they get the permanent position, they can not retain the fellowship money (but can use only the contingency)...but that was not the original aim !!
Prof. Giri,
Thank you for the historical context. However, isn't it true that the fellowships are still attractive because of the research support in terms of grants that they provide (my understanding of at least the INSPIRE conditions was that although someone selected for the fellowship and a permanent position has to give up the salary part of the fellowship, the research grant can still be used: perhaps my understanding is incorrect or not applicable to the Ramanujan Fellowship?)
Thanks.
Prof. Madras,
I agree that the original aim of these re entry/ transition fellowships is lost. Wellcome trust however is still going great, perhaps due to direct involvement of British counterparts. May be we need to merge Ramanujam/ INSPIRE with NSF or NIH like Wellcome trust.
Hello Prof Giri!! Congratulations for running such a wonderful blog. I was interviewed a couple of weeks back for DST-Inspire under “DIRECT” application mode and expecting to get selected. So once we get selected, then how should we approach the desired institutions/universities? I mean how does it work?. Are we simply supposed to send emails to Directors/chairperson explaining my interest to join their institution or should we go and meet them in person?. Is DST/INSA going to help us out in this institute assigning process? I am clueless.
"isn't it true that the fellowships are still attractive because of the research support in terms of grants that they provide"
Yes, it is. But if asked to choose between inspire and a permanent position, everyone will choose the latter.
"Are we simply supposed to send emails to Directors/chairperson explaining my interest to join their institution or should we go and meet them in person?."
Do whatever it takes.
"May be we need to merge Ramanujam/ INSPIRE with NSF or NIH like Wellcome trust."
The criteria for selection of Ramanujam, Inspire, wellcome and ramalingaswami are all different.
Does anyone has any information on NIT Silchar as a career option?
Is anyone aware of recruitment status at IITB, especially in civil or other engineering departments? Are presentations/interview already held?
any information on shortlisted candidates for the INSPIRE interview? I am wondering if there are any updates from them yet
@Anon December 23, 2015 at 12:10 PM:
Interviews for aerospace engineering at IITB were held in October.
Kumar
Any information about IIT Kharagpur interviews?
At least in EE and Aero departments at IITKGP the interviews were held in oct-Nov.
Kumar
Dear Kumar
Many thanks for the update of KGP.
Dear Prof. Sriram,
Kindly let us know if we can expect interview call E-mails from the CSE Department (and EE Department) from IIT Madras in the following week for faculty recruitment (based on Adv whose deadline was on November 9th, 2015)
Thanks,
@anon IITM CSE / EE candidate, it is likely to take 2 weeks for CSE to shortlist. EE may be out in a week or so.
Dear Prof Sriram,
Thank you very much for this specific update on applications for CSE/EE department.
Thanks,
Dear Prof. Sriram and Prof. Giri
I guess it makes sense to ask the following question
I am shortlisted for an interview at IITX, and I am preparing for my interview. I am wondering if I should spend significant time revising undergraduate subjects that falls into my expertise anticipating some basic questions at the interview.
How to handle this fear of being humiliated for not answering a fundamental question precisely (perhaps thro preparation...)?
Regard
Anon above: just say you don't remember, but can brush up. Be frank.
Anyone who has done a decent Ph.D. can teach any UG course. What does UG teaching take, really? 1) You have to read and understand an introductory book -- this we do routinely when we venture into new research directions. And 2) you have to stay about 2 weeks ahead of the class in your preparation. UG teaching is all about understanding stuff yourself and putting up a credible performance in front of some newbies. Nothing original or deep is needed. Don't make heavy weather of it. People who glorify it are seeking profundity where none exists.
In your interview, show calm confidence at being able to handle teaching. Elevate the conversation to the level where you are talking not about details themselves, but about what is needed to find the details, if necessary. This sort of mental organisation will also show maturity in approaching new tasks and delegating effectively.
Hello Ankur,
Thank you very much for this valuable feedback, that too at this time of need.
Regards,
Regarding Assistant professor at NIT AGP 8000 the criteria is
"2 papers in SCI journals outside Ph.D. work. One ongoing sponsored project for
candidates from academia.Two experimental or computational projects added to teaching laboratories where appropriate"
Can anyone elaborate -
what ongoing sponsored project means for a post doctoral fellow?
Are papers from SCI Expanded considered?
How is outside PhD defined (papers published after defense)?
Thanks in advance
@ankur writes "Nothing original or deep is needed ... People who glorify it are seeking profundity where none exists." At the risk of vainly seeking profundity, I have to disagree. Yes, just stay 2 weeks ahead of the class and put up a credible performance in front of newbies. But if you don't actually have a broad and deep grasp of what you are teaching, it will be quite apparent that it is a performance and a shallow one at that. If this is really all one has to do, actually, online resources will be far better for the students and we are better off completely stopping classroom lectures. What is the use of the class room if I have nothing to offer that one cannot find in five minutes in the "prescribed text"? A good teacher should be able to cull things from N different sources and present the best of them and in multiple ways so the entire class with different learning styles is able to keep up and yet feel challenged by glimpsing the possibilities beyond. In fact, "Anyone who has done a decent Ph.D. can teach any UG course" states it all - discount teaching, who cares anyway? But then, most research papers can be described as "seeking profundity where none exists", no?
To get back to the OP, it would be quite sufficient to remember the broad basics, which we all do. The specifics of how to derive a particular equation would be too much to recall and you should feel free to say that you don't recall the specifics. Several departments, especially sciences, now ask for a "teaching seminar" either from a set of pre-defined topics or of the candidate's choice, I think this is a good idea.
INSPIRE results will be out by Feb first week. So, should one start to send applications before that or wait till the results are announced? It has been mentioned earlier in this blog that nowadays, most IITs treat INSPIRE applications on the same level as regular Assistant Professor applications. Is it true?
Can someone share his/her recent experience?
It will be helpful for future aspirants like me.
Dear Prof. Sriram,
Thank you very much for the detailed advice regarding my office. These are valuable pointers for my upcoming interviews.
I am very in happy that forums such as this exists; prospective faculty like me can post a pressing question, and get excellent replies useful for the interview.
Thanks,
Dear Prof. Sriram,
Thank you very much for the detailed advice regarding my question. Your replies have given me valuable pointers for my upcoming interviews.
I am very in happy that forums such as this exists; prospective faculty like me can post a pressing question, and get excellent replies useful for the interview.
Thanks,
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