Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar has surprised everyone by recruiting international faculty members. IIT Bhubaneswar is the first IIT across the country that took steps for internationalisation of the campus. In many IITs, offshore faculties come for short duration, i.e., two or three months. The situation at IIT Bhubaneswar is completely different, as the premier engineering institute appointed full-time guest teachers from abroad for a period of one to three years.
Director of IIT Bhubaneswar, Mr. R V Rajakumar revealed that the decision to recruit full-time international faculty was approved by Board of Governors and Union Government. Transforming IITs into the best institutes across the world is one of the major objectives of the union government, he added.
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Recruiting international faculty will help IITs to provide education with international standard. Students will get a great exposure due to the presence of full-time international faculty on the campus. For the first time, IITs across the country have opened up to international students this year. However, IITs did not receive enough response from international students.
Beyond the sanctioned strength, IITs are allowed to admit international students up to 20%. This year, only five international students seeking admissions in the entire IIT system.
With an objective to recruit international faculty members, IIT Bhubaneswar revised regulations and took permissions from Ministry of External Affairs. The premier institute will offer Indian salary at par with those given to Indian teachers.
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The following are the international faculty members hired by IIT Bhubaneswar: -
- Scott Andrew Whattam from Ontario, Canada
- Matjaz Kovse – Mathematics Teacher at the University of Maribor, located in Slovenia
- Tian C Zhang from the University of Nebraska, located in the USA
- Alin Marian Achim from the United Kingdom (UK)
- Javagal K Sridhar from Netherlands
The institute is also in the process of selecting around 10 international faculty members.
Mr. Scott Andrew Whattam from Canada, who joined IIT Bhubaneswar, recently mentioned that the salary offered by the premier institute is decent. Even though the salary offered is a bit less, the cost of living is minimal in India.