GIAN Scheme (Global Initiative of Academic Networks)

The full form of GIAN project is Global Initiative of Academic Networks. The project was launched by Union Ministry of Human Resource and Development. The scheme was launched to improve the quality of higher education in the country. The scheme was launched at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar by Union Human Resource and Development Minister, Smriti Irani in the year 2014.

This program was first launched to promote collaboration between India and United States of America but later, the scope was the program was extended. The colleges which are under this program are the IITs, IIMs, NITs, and other ‘A’ grade central universities.

About Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) Scheme

• The program makes ‘Vasudev Kutumbakam’ a reality.
• The program is related to development in promoting the higher education of India.
• The program will create a platform which will enable the students to interact with faculty with best academic and industrial experts.
• It will make international academicians participate in Indian Institutions for the purpose of providing short term courses and programs in the country.
• According to this scheme, 32 disciplines will be covered by the academicians and 352 courses will also be thought in around 68 national institutions.
• Under this project, in the beginning, 500 faculties will be engaged in providing knowledge and later this number of will increase to 1000 faculties.
• The duration of the course will be different for different courses depending on the nature of the course. The minimum duration is of one week and maximum duration is of three weeks.
• These courses will be taught for free to those students which are a part of host institutions and will be taught to others at a very normal fee.
• IIT Kanpur has also designed a web portal www.gian.iitkgp.ac.in for the purpose of webcasting live courses for the students all over India.

Aims of GIAN Program

The following are the aims of the program:

• The program want to attract the most talented scientist and entrepreneurs to engage with the institutes that provides higher education in India to push the current academic resources available in the country.
• The program will speed up the pace of quality reforms in education system of India.
• The program will strengthen scientific and technological capabilities of the country.

Objectives of the GIAN Scheme

• The program wants to attract more reputed international faculties to Indian Institutions.
• It will give opportunity to the indigenous faculties to learn and share their knowledge by teaching and applying their skills in cutting edge areas to get knowledge and experience from various reputed international faculties. The students must take the most from these international faculties.
• The program also promotes collaboration with various international institutions for the purpose of research in various fields.
• With this program, the government wants to encourage the participation of foreign students in Indian Institutions.
• It gives an opportunity to the students of various colleges and universities to interact with each other learn various subjects in collaborating with each other.
• Those who are engaged in technical industries will be provided with opportunities to improve their knowledge and skills which are associated with the field in which they work.
• To encourage best international experts in the world to provide solutions for various problems in India.
• The program wants to develop rich and quality material in targeted area. The materials could be in different forms including print and videos which could teach both the students and the teachers.
• To search for new methods for solving issues that is of national and international interests.

Participant Registration Portal

GIAN program also has a participant registration portal. When a participant gets himself registered through this portal, the registration shall be valid for lifetime. A participant can apply for n number of courses once he/she is registered under this program. The fee of Rs. 500 shall have to be paid at the time of registration only once in the life time and such fee shall not be refundable at any cost.

Registration do not mean that a participant will be selected for the course for which he/she is applying for as the final say on selection is given to the coordinator of such course. Therefore, registrations under this portal do not mean registration under the course. There will be a separate registration fee for the course which a participant is opting.
The registration fee of the course will be paid by the participant as required by the host institutions or directives from course coordinator.

Formalities of Registration

The following are requirements by which a participant can get him registered under this scheme.

• Applying online for registration.
• Fill the requirements of the application form.
• Select the courses which one wants to opt.
• Pay the non-refundable registration fee of Rs. 500 via online payment Gateway.

Selection of Participants

The applications of the participants will be examined by the coordinators of respective courses and after this; they will select the participants for the prescribed course. When a participant is selected for the course he will be informed for the same via email on the registered email address and he/she will be required to pay the full fee of the course in prescribed time period. The payment will be done through online payment method gateway services.

ISWT

ISWT stands for International Summer or Winter Term. Under this system guest lectures are arranged. The period of their term can be short term or long term.

Challenges Encountered in Implementation of GIAN Scheme

The GIAN Program is facing two major challenges in implementing the program. They are:

• Copy writing, and
• Funding

Copy writing: the issue related to intellectual property and copy writing has been raised by some of the universities of United States of America. These issues are related to copy writing and recording of lectures. The Ministry of Human Resource and Development is taking relevant measures for overcoming this hurdle.

Funding: huge amount of financial resources is involved under this project. For inviting international faculty, a sum of money is paid to them. For example, paying US Dollar 12000 for two to three weeks projects is a financial burden for the government. The amount to be paid to the faculty can also be mutually decided.

The government is also facing competition from other countries. For example, China is also welcoming international academics to their country and India will have to pay these academics according to what China is paying to them.

Colleges such as those under IITs and IIMs do not take financial support from the central government and therefore they are unable to pay high amount of remuneration to academics. To solve this problem the Central Government is providing additional funds to these institutions.