?IIT- Madras to have 100 foreign nationals as faculty by 2020

With a goal of increasing the industry-institute research partnerships, increasing donations from Indians and alumni, nurturing entrepreneurial skills among its students and drawing top corporates to its campus for job placements, IIT-Madras (IIT-M) is planning to hire 100 foreign nationals as its faculty over the next three years.

As a beginning, the institute is planning to hire 25 foreign nationals to its faculty, said an IIT Madras official in Chennai.

According to an official, IIT-M has been sanctioned Rs. 750 crore as its budget for the next fiscal from the union government and first portion is expected soon.

Pawan Goenka, Chairman, Governing Board of IIT-M and Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., said, "IIT-M plans to have around 100 foreign nationals as its faculty over the next three years. To start with, the institute plans to hire around 25 foreign nationals as faculty members."

According to IIT Madras Director Bhasker Ramamurthi, "appointing foreign faculty members would bring in diverse ideas since not all nationalities think alike."

The institute is also analysing the enabling factors that attract faculty to it and the disenabling factors that make the faculty reject the institute.

Asked about the Make In India programme of government, Goenka said that it will remain an empty slogan if there are no R & D in the country.