The Global Initiative for Academic Networks (GIAN) is a new and catalytic programme of the Ministry of Human Resource Development

Gandhinagar, November 30^th 2015

The Global Initiative for Academic Networks (GIAN) is a new and catalytic programme of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, one with potentially far reaching impact.  It is intended to enlarge and deepen the interface of India’s institutions of higher learning and globally recognised institutions of academic eminence. Over the next year or so, faculty in a wide range of disciplines from highly rated institutions abroad will visit India, interact and partner with faculty from India and with students, and deliver specialised courses in conjunction with faculty from India.

The programme was formally launched by the Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani today, at the IIT Gandhi Nagar. The Minister for Education, Government of Gujarat Sri Bhupendrasinh Chudasama was present on the occasion, as were a large number of stakeholders of the education sector, including specialists, teachers and students.

Speaking on the occasion, Smt Smriti Zubin Irani said the Global Initiative for Academic Networks (GIAN) brings into practice the belief of ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam’, which has been the vision of the Hon Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The fact that this vision of the Hon Prime Minister has translated into action within a time span of just one year is a reflection of the team work between the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the institutions of higher learning. She said, “while our Hon Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given the clarion call of Make In India, GIAN is our effort to tell the world “Come, Teach In India”.

The two Courses – one at IIT Gandhinagar and the other at IIT Kharagpur – launched today would be the first in the series of about five hundred courses that are expected to be offered by foreign faculty in almost seventy Indian Government universities and premier institutions over the course of the next year. Setting the trend and tenor of the programme, two eminent academicians began their courses – 3D Digitization for Cultural Heritage, delivered by Professor Marco Callieri, Visual Computing Lab, ISTI-CNR, Italy
at the IIT Gandhi Nagar, and another course at IIT Kharagpur by Professor Nico Verdonschot, faculty of the Radboud University Medical Center Nijmege,  University of Twente, Netherlands on Orthopaedic Biomechanics: Implants and Biomaterials.

In the weeks and months to come, the academic interface will enlarge, and increasingly enable international academic collaboration. Most importantly, the GIAN programme offers a basis and a platform for a long-term cooperation. The interaction with the foreign faculty is expected to open the doors for joint implementation of research projects.

The response to the GIAN programme, even in the months of planning that have preceded the launch, has been encouraging, in fact enthusiastic, cutting across disciplines and institutions. From abroad, faculty from 34 countries are presently scheduled to deliver courses, including 46 academics from the USA, 9 from the UK, 6 each from Germany and Australia, and 2 from Israel. The list of countries includes Russia, Japan, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Portrugal, Netherlands, Malaysia and South Korea.

The courses vary in duration from 1 week to 3 weeks depending on the subject and are open for registration by students, free for those from the host institution, at nominal charges for others and webcast live as well.  Webcasting will allow students across the country to benefit, in real time and simultaneously, providing access to high quality educational content in key academic disciplines. Seeking to encourage and make possible further and continued access of students and faculty to course content and delivery, it would be placed on the website of the concerned institution.

These lectures would also be made available to the students across the Country through the SWAYAM, the MOOCs platform and the National Digital Library that are set to launch shortly.  A web portal (gian.iitkgp.ac.in) has been designed by IIT Kharagpur which allows electronic registration of courses, online assessment and approval.

Students attending the courses can earn academic credits at the end of the course.

Under the programme, Government of India would provide a lumpsum amount for travel, honorarium and incidental expenses of the visiting faculty identified by the institutions of higher learning in India. An amount of Rs. 35 crores has already been released for the first set of courses being offered under the programme. After seeing the extraordinary response to the initiative, it is proposed to enlarge the scope and coverage, later in 2016, and beyond.