Context: After brief discontinuation during the COVID period, the Ministry of Education to restart the fourth phase of the Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN)-to rope in eminent scholars from across the world to teach at Indian universities.

About Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN)

• Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) in Higher Education was launched in 2015. It is a program of Ministry of Education.

• Aim: Tapping the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs internationally to encourage their engagement with the institutes of Higher Education in India.

• This will help augment India’s existing academic resources, accelerate the pace of quality reform, and elevate India's scientific and technological capacity to global excellence.

• Nodal Agency: IIT Kharagpur

Objectives

• To enhance the presence of esteemed international faculty in Indian academic institutions. Offer opportunities for our faculty to acquire and exchange knowledge and advanced teaching skills.

• Enable our students to access expertise and insights from distinguished international faculty.

• Establish pathways for potential collaborative research ventures with international scholars. Create top-notch course materials in specialized domains, available in both video and print formats, for broader use by students and educators.

• Document and cultivate innovative pedagogical approaches in emerging subjects of national and global significance.

Salient Features of GIAN:

• An honorarium is paid to the foreign experts to cover their travels and other expenses.

• Short term courses are conducted by these experts/faculties in Indian Institutions.

• This programme was first launched to establish collaboration between India and The United States of America, but later, the scope of the programme was extended.

• The duration of courses differ for different courses. The minimum duration is one week and the maximum duration is 3 weeks.

• A lump-sum amount of up to US$ 8000 (~ Rs 7 lakh) for 12 to 14 hours of contact and up to US$ 12000 (~ Rs 12 lakh) for 20 to 28 hours of contact can be paid to the foreign experts covering their travel and honorarium.

Significance of GIAN Programme:

• The Central government has spent at least Rs 126 crore in payment to support foreign faculty’s travel and honorarium since the inception of GIAN.

• Since the beginning of the scheme in 2015-16, 1,612 foreign faculty members have visited the country to deliver courses from 59 countries.

• As many as 692 (39%) of 1,772 courses were delivered in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campuses, while the second largest cohort of lectures, 436 (24.6%), took place in the National Institute of Technology (NITs).

• Up to 41.4% (668) of academicians who visited India belonged to the U.S. The rest consisted of experts from the U.K. (143), Germany (93), Canada (89), etc. Up to 72,000 Indian students directly benefitted.