New incentives for IIT faculty

Months after the Union Human Resource Development Ministry defused a standoff with the IIT faculty by promising them additional incentives for superlative performance....

Months after the Union Human Resource Development Ministry defused a standoff with the IIT faculty by promising them additional incentives for superlative performance,a special committee has formulated the Performance Related Incentive Scheme (PRIS) that will soon go to the IIT Council for a final go-ahead.

IIT faculty had gone on a strike last year protesting the anomalies in the pay structure promised to them under the 6th Pay Commission. One of their key demands was an incentive scheme to retain good faculty and to attract younger people to the profession.

With a PRIS (O) proposed for the organisation as a whole an IIT and a PRIS (I) proposed for individual faculty members,the scheme will measure performance on four major counts. Depending on the performance,faculty members could get annual

monetary incentives ranging from 10 per cent to 30 per cent of their basic salary with the Academic Grade Pay,The Indian Express has learnt.

The PRIS (O) for incentives at the organisational level could mean a 10-20 per cent hike in an IITs non-plan funds,as proposed. If the performance of a faculty member is found to be poor,he will be denied any financial incentives under the scheme. PRIS will ultimately develop into an annual performance appraisal system for IITs.

The four major parameters for measuring a faculty members performance will be excellence in teaching,research in terms of papers published in leading journals and advising students,sponsored research and consultancy assignments in the field of professional development and contribution to building and running the organisation.