New Delhi: The Prime Minister’s Research Fellows (PMRF) Scheme, India’s highest paid research scholarships, has been designed for improving the quality of research in various higher educational institutions in the country. The Ministry of HRD has recently announced relaxations on norms for PMRF to attract the best talent into research thereby realizing the vision of development through innovation.
The new norms for selection for the fellowship programmes will be applicable from PMRF May 2020.
The HRD Ministry informed that after the amendments, now for the students from any recognised institute/ university (other than IISc/ IITs/NITs/IISERs/IIEST/CF IIITs), the requirement of GATE Score is reduced to 650 from 750 apart from minimum CGPA of 8 or equivalent.
The candidates will be selected through a rigorous selection process and their performance will be reviewed suitably through a national convention. Starting Academic Year 2020-21, candidates can apply for PMRF through either of these two channels: Direct Entry Channel & Lateral Entry Channel.
Direct Entry Channel:
To apply for PMRF through this channel, the candidate must satisfy all of the following criteria:
(1) In the preceding three years, the candidate should have either: (i) completed or be pursuing the final year of Bachelors or Masters degree in Science and Technology streams from any of the Institute/University recognized in India with CGPA of 8.0 or above and GATE score of 650 or above in the relevant subject (the GATE criteria is waived if the qualifying degree is from one of the centrally funded technical institutes), or, (ii) qualified GATE and completed or be pursuing M.Tech./MS by research at one of the PMRF Granting Institutes having a minimum CGPA of 8.0 or above at the end of the first semester with a minimum of four courses.
(2) They apply and get selected in the Ph.D. programme in one the PMRF granting institutes.
(3) The PMRF granting institute, which has admitted the student in the Ph.D. programme through the regular selection process (interveiw), makes a strong recommendation for award of PMRF in view of his/her merit. The metrics on which the candidates will be judged will include (but not restricted to): research exposure, publications, performance in international academic competitions, grades and recommendation letters.
Lateral Entry Channel:
To apply for PMRF through this channel, the candidate must satisfy all of the following criteria:
(1) The candidate should be pursuing Ph.D. in one of the PMRF granting institutions. Further, he/she should have completed at most 12 months in the PhD programme if he/she joined the programme with a Master’s degree; and should have completed at most 24 months in the PhD programme if he/she joined the PhD programme with a Bachelor’s degree. He/she should have completed at least four courses in the PhD programme with CGPA / CPI of 8.5 or above.
(2) The PMRF Granting Institute, in which the student is enrolled, makes a strong recommendation for the candidate and uploads the relevant information on the PMRF web-portal, in view of his/her merit clearly demonstrated during the first 12-24 months (as relevant) of the program;
(3) The metrics on which the candidates will be judged include (but not restricted to) a strong research proposal, publications record and grades. Due weightage should be given to publication in reputed journals/conferences.
PMRF GRANTING INSTITUTES:
The PMRF granting institutes are:
IISc, Bengaluru
All IISERs
All IITs
Jawaharlal Nehru University
Banaras Hindu University
University of Hyderabad
Aligarh Muslim University
Jamia Millia Islamia
University of Delhi
National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli
The application for the Prime Minister’s Research Fellows (PMRF) Scheme will open very soon for May 2020.
