Directors of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are fine-tuning a Performance Related Incentive Scheme (PRIS) which they are expected to place on the table later this week to defuse the stand-off with protesting faculty across all seven IITs.

Under this, an incentive equivalent to “two to four months of salary” could be offered annually to faculty depending on their performance which will be quantified on key indicators.

“While it’s very difficult to define and assess performance in academia, a distribution curve is being worked on which will help assess a faculty member’s performance for the year — on a scale from Average to Excellent,” a highly placed source told The Indian Express.

“There will be a scientific way of developing this distribution curve depending on teaching outcomes, research work, publications, etc. Based on performance on all these parameters, a faculty member would be eligible for PRIS.” The PRIS will be based on the Sixth Pay Commission, sources said.

The IIT faculty have been protesting the revised pay orders for more than a month now and said they will go on a hunger strike on September 24. Other Centrally funded institutes like IIMs and NITs to which this pay order also applies are considering following suit.

“IIT Directors have already communicated to faculty federations that PRIS will be shared with them at a meeting on September 25. In light of this, we have asked faculty federations to refrain from holding any hunger strike,” an IIT director said.

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