PG Academic Affairs Council: Mid-Term Review

The Institute General Body Meets (GBMs) are conducted twice every year with the intent to provide all students a convenient mechanism to provide feedback and addressme.co.nz/ball-dresses.html”>dressme.co.nz/ball-dressme.co.nz/ball-dresses.html”>dresses.html”>dressme.co.nz/ball-dresses.html”>dress concern to the student representatives responsible for various amenities on campus.

The PG Academic Affairs Council GBM is scheduled from 9:00pm tomorrow (1st November) at the IRCC Auditorium in SOM.

This review is split into three parts.

• The first summarizes the findings of a survey conducted among the student body.
• The second describes, in depth, the progress made on initiatives the council attempted / intended to push through.
• The third is an excerpt from the General Secretary leading the council.

Next, a brief summary of the advances in each sub-field has been provided. Please click on particular manifesto points to know more about the work done on each of them.

I: New Initiatives

[gsreview title=”PhD Fellowship Increase” color=”blue”]As announced on 21st October, PhD student stipends have been hiked by over 50% by the Ministry of Science and Technology, with other funding agencies expected to follow suit soon. Though the implementation might take some time, the hike will be applicable with effect from 1st October 2014.

This hike comes as a consequence of the national movement for stipend hike which was run by groups of students in several Indian institutes. The signature campaign organized in the IIT Bombay campus in the last week of July played a significant role in bringing about this hike. The PG Academic Affairs council collaborated with stakeholders from colleges across the country to build pressure on the Ministry of Science and Technology. The GSAA PG deserved due credit for having played a major role in this.

However, the MHRD is yet to approve the stipend hike for M.Tech. students.
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[gsreview title=”Preferential TA Allotment” color=”blue”]
A centralized portal for TA allotment is in the pipeline where professors will fill in their TA requirements while the students fill in their areas of expertise. The final allotment will be done algorithmically to maximize the number of students who are awarded a TAship in their areas of expertise. It is expected that this project, once complete, will lessen some of the ‘TA woes’ prevalent on campus.

A pilot project for this will be tried out in few of the departments in the coming semester.
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[gsreview title=”Internships for PG students” color=”blue”]
The GSAA PG had proposed to push for allowing PGs’ to undertake summer internships. He had also proposed to increase the size of the Internship cell for PGs by coordinating with the Placement Cell. However, nothing substantial has been done on the issue yet.

Talks have been going on with the placement cell and the GSAA PG is hopeful of making at least a few summer internships available during the coming summers.
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[gsreview title=”Automated M.Tech Project Allotment” color=”blue”]
Similar to the TA allotment system (described above), the pilot project for this is expected to be launched in the month of December in few of the departments.

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[gsreview title=”Course Tagging for PGs” color=”blue”]
Course tagging is has now been made available for PG students.
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[gsreview title=”Fee Waiver for PhD students” color=”blue”]
The GSAA PG had proposed to push for waiver of the tuition fees for PhDs as they don’t have any instructions after their first year on campus. The issue is under deliberation with both the institute authorities and the MHRD and the GSAA PG hopes to get it done by the end of his tenure.
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[gsreview title=”English Classes for PG students” color=”blue”]
The Institute Student Mentorship Program (Undergraduate) has taken up the initiative of conducting English classes for students facing problems with instructions being imparted in English. When cases of many postgraduate students facing the same problem cropped up, the Institute Student Companionship Program (Postgraduate) heads suggested the GSAA PG to take up similar initiatives even for the PG students.The ISCP heads have told the GSAA PG about the percentage of students who are in immediate need for the classes.

Despite the number being large, the proposal is still under deliberation in the Dean AP office.
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II: Infrastructure

[gsreview title=”Aakash Tablet Distribution” color=”blue”]
Aakash Tablets have been distributed to every PG apart from the freshmen. The remainder of the distribution will be taken up in January.
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[gsreview title=”Night Canteen in Acad Area” color=”blue”]
There has been a recurrent demand for a night canteen in the academic area to cater to the PGs who work in their labs late into the night. A meeting is being convened in the coming week to finalize the proposal which will then go through the Eateries Committee. The proposal is to set up a 24×7 canteen in the area between L2 & L3 and a vending machine near VMCC. Also, a tea canteen near the library is being proposed. The GSAA PG is optimistic about setting it up within 3 months from now.
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III: Workshops and Seminars

[gsreview title=”Summer Software School” color=”blue”]
Summer school for various softwares and platforms were organized and well received.
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[gsreview title=”Research Scholar Discussion Group” color=”blue”]
The study group for it is being formed. 2-3 talks have already been held.
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[gsreview title=”PG Alumni Lecture Series” color=”blue”]
In collaboration with SARC, this is likely to be held in the months of January or February.
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[gsreview title=”Industry-Institute Interaction” color=”blue”]
The GSAA PG is under talks with the Placement Cell to get this started by the last week of January. He feels optimistic that there are several projects in the industry which need to be worked upon, most of them being R&D based. These can be handed over to the students who can take them up in-semester, especially the PGs who possess the required background and are anyhow involved in some kind of research already. This will be quite similar to what is termed as “Industrial Research”, a kind of research that many of our professors are already involved in. A suitable stipend will be given whenever possible. The duration of these projects is still under debate. It could possibly range from 2 months to 6 months
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GS Speaks: Shubham Badjate

When I took the charge of my responsibilities, I found that many key issues that PG students face are beyond the scope of institute administration. Some require the approval of entire IIT council, while others require that of the ministry. Unfortunately, neither has student representation. Hence, with help of like-minded students from different institutes, I decided to take these matters to relevant authorities. Fellowship hike of PhD students was one such issue which has been taken care by Ministry of Science and Technology. Necessary follow up is being done with MHRD for stipend of PhD and Masters students and few other issues.

Our other ongoing and future activities include Aakash tablet distribution, software workshops, six sigma workshop, industry institute interaction, departmental activities, PG internships, PG minors, late night tea canteen, PG alumni lecture series, RSAS for all departments combined, research media cell, research book portal, database of laboratories and instruments, PhD qualifier exam, web interface between the HRD minister and IITians to name a few. Please feel free to get in touch with me if you expect something more or want to contribute in any of our activity.

Do come to the GBM starting 9 PM on 1st Nov. at IRCC auditorium. Your views are important to us.