IIT Research Scholars Quitting Midway will have to Return Entire Fellowship Amount

With the introduction of research fellowship worth Rs.75,000 per month, the HRD Ministry wants to attract more students for higher education in the IITs.

However, the ministry has also introduced a clause according to which students quitting their research programmes in the middle of the course will have to return the entire amount awarded as fellowship.

The clause has been introduced for the benefit of students. The fellowship will be awarded to students who qualify for the Ph.D. programmes in IIT directly after B.Tech. The scheme is yet to get approval from the cabinet.

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A senior HRD official talked about the scheme and said that research needs to be promoted at IITs. The only way research can be boosted is by attracting talented students for Ph.D. programmes directly after B.Tech, added the official.

The clause of refund has been added to ensure that students don’t quit the scheme midway after getting a job offer.

Currently, 25,000 scholars are enrolled in different Ph.D. programmes at the prestigious IITs. Most of the students opt for Ph.D. after completing their masters and are provided with a fellowship of Rs.25,000 per month.

The amount for this fellowship will be paid for five years. All participating students will have to provide an outline of the research project they want to take up as part of their Ph.D. This project outline will be considered by the Board of Governor (BoG) of each IIT.

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In 2017, IITs plan to admit 1,000 fellows for this programme through rigorous selection procedures. Students enrolled in the B.Tech programmes of IITs who are part of the top 25 percentile bracket of the class (in the past six semesters) will be given a chance to pursue the fellowship programme.