After Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), the central government is aiming to make its relatively new set of institutions — Indian Institutes of Science and Education Research (IISERs) — as one of their institutes of eminence.
IISERs, which are barely 10-year-old institutions, working mostly in the field of research, have been asked by the ministry to focus on industry partnerships for research and generate funds in collaborative projects. The department of higher education in the ministry that handles IISERs is simultaneously also working on a roadmap to develop them as their trademark institutions.
Since the institutions are new, their research output is not as much as the IITs and other institutes of eminence. The ministry, however, is impressed by the progress that these institutions have exhibited in the limited time span and hence wants to develop them further.
"IISERs are fairly new institutions, but they are doing extremely well, which is why we want to promote them to do good work. We have asked all institutions to engage in industry collaborations for research and projects. Apart from this, the ministry is also funding the institutes completely, till the time they start functioning on autonomous mode like IITs and IIMs," said a senior official in HRD Ministry.
"The idea behind developing IISERs is that we want dedicated institutes for research and innovation. The research output in the country is very poor; there are hardly any good researches happening. The minister also keeps discussing this fact and we are focusing on having a name that is completely dedicated to research," the official said.
To streamline focus on research and attract the youth to pursue research projects, the ministry had earlier announced a Rs 70,000 stipend per month to scholars under the Prime Minister's fellowship scheme.
There are seven IISERs in the country. In addition to the five older IISERs at Pune (Maharashtra), Kolkata (West Bengal), Mohali (Punjab), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), and Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), the government has established two new IISERs at Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) and Berhampur (Odisha) in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
