New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Council in its 50th Meeting held on 23 August 2016 approved and recommended to the Government a proposal for awarding 1000 Prime Minister Research Fellows (PMRFs) annually. Under the proposal, BTech students studying in IITs who have secured at-least 8.5 CGPA will be given direct admission into PhD programme with a fellowship of Rs.60,000/- per month for 5 years along with a suitable research grant, which could cover the expenses for attending international conferences, etc.

This information was given by the Minister of State (HRD), Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey today (01 December 2016) in a written reply to a Rajya Sabha question.

This proposal aims at increasing the strength of PhD students in IITs and ultimately will help in reducing the shortage of faculty in IITs and other technical institutions.

Here, it can mentioned that when the government is considering to increase intake capacity of students in IITs by 20% in the next three years, the faculty shortage is emerging as a stumbling block in this expansion drive. The Prime Minister Research Fellows and increasing enrolment of PhD students is expected to minimize the adverse impact of faculty shortage.