Dhanbad: The coal town-based IIT(ISM) will support Jharkhand's only state-run institution, BIT-Sindri, in upgrading the qualifications of its 84 newly inducted teachers and in a range of other areas that will help the latter attain autonomy.
Speaking exclusively to this correspondent on Monday, BIT-Sindri director Dharmendra Kumar Singh, said all 72 contractual teachers appointed under a World Bank project and 12 others through Jharkhand Public Service Commission in several phases in January this year, can enrol themselves for part time PhD with IIT(ISM).
"We will gradually ensure that all our 160 faculty members have PhD degrees from IIT (ISM)," Singh said. He added that joint research projects between teachers and students of the two institutions will start soon.
It may be mentioned that IIT(ISM) is the mentor institution of BIT-Sindri under World Bank's ambitious Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQUIP). On July 26 last year both the institutions had signed an MoU to facilitate faculty and student exchange, resource sharing, holding joint conferences and seminars and other cooperative activities.
Singh further said, "We will soon organise seminars and conferences jointly on a wide range of issues that will enrich the knowledge of teachers and students of both the institutions." He added that students and teachers of BIT-Sindri can also use the central library and other facilities of IIT (ISM) as per the MoU.
Mining engineering professor and IIT(ISM) TEQUIP coordinator Dhiraj Kumar also informed that his institution will help BIT-Sindri.
"We will also carry out training need analysis for BIT-Sindri faculty members. This will help them in sharpening their teaching skills."
He said officials of both the institutions, led by their directors, met on April 21 at IIT(ISM).
The host director, Rajiv Shekhar, assured all help to BIT-Sindri, including its the recently launched entrepreneurship cell during the meeting, Dhiraj Kumar told this correspondent.