November 30, 2015:
Union Minister for Human Resource Development Smt Smriti Irani inaugurated MHRD's new scheme titled Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) to boost the quality of the country’s higher education institutes at IIT Gandhinagar on November 30, 2015 (Monday) along with a parallel virtual launch at IIT Kharagpur on November 30, 2015 at 1800 hours. Smt Irani launched GIAN with two 10-day-long courses - “3D Digitization for Cultural Heritage” at IIT Gandhinagar, and “Orthopaedic Biomechanics: Implants and Biomaterials” at IIT Kharagpur. Smt. Irani, emphasized on facilitating transfer of course credit. She also recommended the courses to be expanded to government colleges for the students to learn from international faculty. "The course will help even those students from small colleges learn from international faculty who may have never thought about it" she said.
Shri R Subrahmanyam, Additional Secretary (TE), MHRD who was present at IIT Kharagpur on this occasion said, “the impact of knowledge can be improved only with collaborative education. More than 200 people are coming from US and many from other countries. MHRD is in the process more such programmes inter-linked with GIAN such as IMPRINT, National Digital Library. MHRD will not control the courses to be taught and it is to be decided by the home institution proposing the course. Also MHRD is in favour of a dynamic variety in the approved courses ranging from science and technology to arts, social science, management etc.”
They are among 209 courses approved to be conducted under GIAN so far from among 495 courses proposed by different higher education institutes in India. IIT Kharagpur the nodal institution and National Coordinator for this Flagship Programme (http://www.gian.iitkgp.ac.in/) has been approved for 33 courses. More than 350 academicians from 38 countries are participating in this programme in 13 broad disciplines which currently includes 68 national institutes. Prof. P P Chakrabarti, Director, IIT Kharagpur emphasized on inclusieness of this programme saying, “almost 60% of the courses are for non-IIT institutions. These include UGC state universities, Central Universities, AICTE affiliated engineering colleges, management institutions. The courses under GIAN will have credit facility. For the students at the home institutions, no separate course fee will be charged reminding of Tagore’s quote ‘where knowledge is free’. ” The HRD Minister, stated "it was Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s recommendation, that no student in the home institutions would be required to pay additional fee for attending these courses. In the truest sense the Prime Minister has made the vision of Tagore true.”
The launch course “Orthopaedic Biomechanics: Implants and Biomaterials” will cover the fundamental aspects as well as state-of-the-art techniques of modelling and simulation and is intended towards engineers, scientists and clinicians. Orthopaedic Biomechanics is a most vigorous development because the most frequent users of the surgical theatres are patients with musculoskeletal problems. The course will be taught by a leading international figure in the field of computer modelling of Orthopaedic Biomechanics - Professor NicoVerdonschot, faculty of the Radboud University Medical Center Nijmegen and the University of Twente, Netherlands (Holland, Europe). Professor NicoVerdonschot said, “Indian level of higher education and quality of faculty is very high but have modest position hence Indian universities must reach out to international faculty for knowledge sharing and best-in-class progress.” He congratulated India for this initiative.
The eminent faculty panel also includes Dr. Joydeep Banerjee Chowdhury, Head of the Department of Orthopaedics in AMRI Hospital, Kolkata, Dr. Prasanta Kumar Saha, Assistant Professor in the Department of Orthopaedics, Institute of IPGMER and SSKM Hospital, Kolkata, Prof. Amit Roy Chowdhury, Dept of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics, IIEST, Dr. Santanu Dhara, Associate Professor in the School of Medical Science and Technology, IIT Kharagpur and Prof. Sanjay Gupta from the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur.IIT Kharagpur already has a reputation in the field of medical technology research spanning across various departments. Nearly 70 participants, including students, faculty and industry professionals from all over India, will participate in the course. This is an excellent opportunity for the participants to learn details of modelling and analysis of bone and implant, Biomaterials and Biomaterial behaviour, in order to pursue advanced studies and research in areas related to Biomechanics and Biomaterials.
Some of the upcoming courses being taught by international faculty of repute are sought after subjects such as, Nanobiotechnology, Robotics in Medicine and Healthcare, Smartgrid Operation with Renewables. Safety and Environment related courses such as, Probabilistic Safety Assessment, Blasting Technology, Groundwater Modeling Characterization and Management, Thin Film Technology for Waste Heat Recovery, are also brought in focus during the 1st season of GIAN. IIT Kharagpur’s much coveted project SandHI will also have a collaborative course on Planning and Management of Cultural Heritage Sites.
Participants can register for the courses on http://www.gian.iitkgp.ac.in/GREGN/index. The courses are mostly postgraduate in nature to augment industry and research professionals and postgraduate students. Undergraduate students at senior level may also enrol for these courses to experience the teaching methodologies of international experts.
MHRD has allocated Rs 35 crore for GIAN for the current financial year. Under the scheme, 500 international faculty will be engaged this year and 1000 in subsequent years to offer short courses and programs throughout India. Nearly 200 Indian institutes will host GIAN courses this year. This number will grow to 500 institutes in the following years.
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