IIT-Delhi to launch rural internship programme

In its effort to become an institute that is known across the world not only for its research papers but also for innovative solutions to problems in society, the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi will be offering rural internships to its BTech students this summer.

“Our students come here after studying hard to crack the entrance examination. In the process, they have not been exposed to some of the real problems in the society, particularly, in rural areas. Through the internship, students will be sent to villages to spend time with farmers and experience first-hand the problems that they are facing and understand rural governance,” said IIT-Delhi Director V. Ramgopal Rao on Tuesday.

He added that these students will then be able to find technological solutions to the problems while they study at IIT-Delhi so that they can benefit the community.

Tie-up with AIIMS

The director also announced that IIT-Delhi will soon be tying up with All India Institute of Medical Sciences as a part of their multi-disciplinary approach to problem solving. The tie-up with AIIMS he said will enable students of technology to work with medical doctors and find out the problems they face in treating diseases and come out with tech-based solutions.

Recognising that innovations at IIT are often not marketed properly, Mr. Rao said that the institute will be developing systems to improve its incubation centres to take its top-class research and development to the people. “These incubation centres will empower students and faculty to start-up their own companies and take products to the market. We have already started an extension campus at Sonipat [Haryana] for this purpose where people can work, stay and use the facilities of IIT-Delhi,” said Mr. Rao. He added that the institute wants its faculty to own companies as currently owning companies is an exception and not the norm among faculty members.

Mr. Rao said, “Today, there are 25,000 PhD students in the country in centrally funded technical institutes, but, there are not many opportunities for these students apart form going into faculty positions after they finish their studies. Moreover, not many companies are recruiting PhD students in the country and are struggling to find jobs.”

Fellowship for scholars       

“We will be starting Platform for Harnessing Deep technologies (PHD) incubators where PhD scholars from across India will be able to avail a two-year fellowship that can be extended to three years so that scholars can spend time in the incubation centre to convert what they have researched into a start-up. IIT-Delhi will provide them with all the facilities during the duration,” he added.