Message
Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank'
The Honourable Minister of Education
Government of India
The Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC), an initiative of Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, aims at improving the research ecosystem of India’s higher educational institutions by facilitating academic and research collaborations between top ranked Indian Institutions and globally ranked Foreign Institutions, through Joint Research Projects involving mobility of students and faculty.
The SPARC Scheme is expected to have a major impact in providing the best international expertise to address major national problems, expose Indian academicians to the best collaborators abroad, enable international faculty to stay in India for a longer duration, provide Indian students an opportunity to work in the world class laboratories, to develop strong bilateral relationships in research, and improve the international ranking of Indian Institutions.
I am sure, IIT Kharagpur as the National Coordinating Institute and Nodal Institutions involved in this scheme will implement the scheme to significantly enhance the research collaboration with best Institutes abroad, thereby improving the research ecosystem of our country. During the first phase started in 2018-2019, about 390 projects of a grant worth INR 251.09 Crores were approved.
