Mohali: Prime Minister’s Research Scholarship scheme will be considered for Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) on the same lines as for Indian Institute of technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of management (IIMs). The main objective of the fellowship is to encourage the best talents in the premier higher educational institutes to pursue further research in their respective field. In the recent IIT Council meet, this fellowship scheme had been approved for IITs.

The Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Mr Prakash Javadekar today (23 September 2016) chaired the review meeting with Directors of five Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, located at Pune, Kolkata, Mohali, Bhopal and Thiruvananthapuram and the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, at IISER, Mohali (Punjab). Interacting with the media after the meetings at IISER Mohali, the minister informed about the proposed applicable of Prime Minister’s Research Scholarship scheme in IISERs.

He said that the government role must be that of a facilitator and not a controller, for which it proposes to give more autonomy to premier institutions of higher learning, based on their performance. Mr Javadekar said that joint effort of IITs, IIMs and IISERs must be ensured so that the quality of education being imparted in the nation’s top institutions, which need to be reflected in their international rankings.

Here, it can be mentioned that the Union Minister had already held review meeting of IIITs, IITs and IIMs before this. Improving the quality and promoting research in these institutions has been the underlying principal theme of reviewing all the central institutions. He will also be meeting with Vice Chancellors of 41 Central Universities at Banaras Hindu University on 6 October 2016. The scheduled meeting with Vice Chancellors of Central Universities will focus on actions taken and proposed for improvement of quality in education, research, internal resource generation, infrastructure, student centric initiatives, and e-governance initiatives.

This was followed by interaction with students and faculty of IISER Mohali where he received feedback for improving the performance of these institutions. He was accompanied by the Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development (Higher Education) Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey.