10-14-2011, 06:11 PM
Currently, there is a bit of discussion going on about pay scale revisions for faculty at IIT, IISc and other institutes in India. My final take on this matter is that when the 6th Pay Commission recommendations are implemented, our salaries are going to be adequate. Raising a family with two kids and ailing parents with the current salary stretches resources quite a bit.
Anyway, this post is geared towards those who have made the decision to start their academic career in India. While specific to IITs, I think the main message of this post is more or less applicable to other research positions in India as well.
Joining and Settling In
First and foremost, its my considered opinion that one should join the institute in the middle of a semester rather than the summer break. I joined IIT-M one month before the start of July-November semester.
I was hoping to get settled in within a month and start teaching from my first semester itself.
However, things move quite slowly in India. You need to give yourself about 10 weeks time to settle in. My quarters got allotted just a week before semester started; with minor repair work done, I moved in three weeks into the semester. The first 8-10 classes of my career were taught while I was still living in the guest house. I had no time to write proposals to get research funding.
Joining in the middle of the semester gives you the advantage of having a couple of months or more to get settled in and ready to teach the next semester. Moreover, there is a chance you’ll get eased into teaching by sharing one-third or quarter of a course with another faculty.
Starting Your Research
Again, these are not detailed tips… just a discussion about one major issue we faced as we got started with our academic careers in India. There are several aspects to a successful academic career. As someone who has not yet submitted a paper with his students, its quite rich of me to write a post like this one. Still, this post is limited to the kind of situation one faces at the beginning, which some of us were not ready for.
The main issue for an experimentalist in India is to generate funding. Its not that funding does not exist; when you start, you do not have the track record for the funding agencies to trust you with a large chunk of money. I think based on my experience, the advice I will give people who are about to start their academic career in India is this: Think about what experiments you can set up with 15 lakh rupees so that you will have two papers in about two-three years time.
The number 15 lakh comes from the amount of money you will receive quickly and relatively easily when you start. The institute pays 5 L as a startup fund (its 10 at IIT-B and IISc). The Chemical Engineering PAC of DST (Department of Science and Technology) is prompt in assessing the project and sending approval/reject within a few months. With fair amount of effort, one should be able to raise 17 L from DST. Of this, 3 L goes for overheads and other stuff and 5 L goes for paying a research associate. Remaining 9 L is available. Moreover, you can expect some small amounts from the department (for furniture, a computer and printer etc). All this amounts to a total of up to 15 lakh that can be availed of within a semester of joining.
I am not trying to give this as a gospel, I am not saying larger amounts of money aren’t available, I am not saying that getting DST funding is easy; all I am saying is that 15 lakh rupees is something that one can count on receiving fairly quickly and with lesser bureaucratic strings attached than other monies. It might be a good idea to plan as per this.
Anyway, this post is geared towards those who have made the decision to start their academic career in India. While specific to IITs, I think the main message of this post is more or less applicable to other research positions in India as well.
Joining and Settling In
First and foremost, its my considered opinion that one should join the institute in the middle of a semester rather than the summer break. I joined IIT-M one month before the start of July-November semester.
I was hoping to get settled in within a month and start teaching from my first semester itself.
However, things move quite slowly in India. You need to give yourself about 10 weeks time to settle in. My quarters got allotted just a week before semester started; with minor repair work done, I moved in three weeks into the semester. The first 8-10 classes of my career were taught while I was still living in the guest house. I had no time to write proposals to get research funding.
Joining in the middle of the semester gives you the advantage of having a couple of months or more to get settled in and ready to teach the next semester. Moreover, there is a chance you’ll get eased into teaching by sharing one-third or quarter of a course with another faculty.
Starting Your Research
Again, these are not detailed tips… just a discussion about one major issue we faced as we got started with our academic careers in India. There are several aspects to a successful academic career. As someone who has not yet submitted a paper with his students, its quite rich of me to write a post like this one. Still, this post is limited to the kind of situation one faces at the beginning, which some of us were not ready for.
The main issue for an experimentalist in India is to generate funding. Its not that funding does not exist; when you start, you do not have the track record for the funding agencies to trust you with a large chunk of money. I think based on my experience, the advice I will give people who are about to start their academic career in India is this: Think about what experiments you can set up with 15 lakh rupees so that you will have two papers in about two-three years time.
The number 15 lakh comes from the amount of money you will receive quickly and relatively easily when you start. The institute pays 5 L as a startup fund (its 10 at IIT-B and IISc). The Chemical Engineering PAC of DST (Department of Science and Technology) is prompt in assessing the project and sending approval/reject within a few months. With fair amount of effort, one should be able to raise 17 L from DST. Of this, 3 L goes for overheads and other stuff and 5 L goes for paying a research associate. Remaining 9 L is available. Moreover, you can expect some small amounts from the department (for furniture, a computer and printer etc). All this amounts to a total of up to 15 lakh that can be availed of within a semester of joining.
I am not trying to give this as a gospel, I am not saying larger amounts of money aren’t available, I am not saying that getting DST funding is easy; all I am saying is that 15 lakh rupees is something that one can count on receiving fairly quickly and with lesser bureaucratic strings attached than other monies. It might be a good idea to plan as per this.