SPARC: The Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration aims at improving the research ecosystem of India’s Higher Educational Institutions by facilitating academic and research collaborations between Indian Institutions and the best institutions in the world from 28 selected nations to jointly solve problems of national and/or international relevance. The scheme proposes to enable productive academic cooperation by supporting the following critical components that can catalyze impact making research, namely

  • Visits and long-term stay of top international faculty/researchers in Indian institutions to pursue teaching and research
  • Visits by Indian students for training and experimentation in premier laboratories worldwide
  • Joint development of niche courses, world-class books and monographs, translatable patents, demonstrable technologies or action research outcomes and products
  • Consolidation of Bilateral co-operation through academic and research partnerships through Indo-X Workshops in India
  • Publication, Dissemination and Visibility through a high profile annual International Conference in India

The expected outcomes include tangible results in terms of a large number of high-quality research publications, the solution to key national and international problems, development of niche courses, high-quality textbooks and research monographs, imbibing of best practices from top international academicians and researchers, strong bilateral co-operation, and improved world reputation and ranking of Indian Institutions. 

Please find the following link for more information about the SPARC program: https://sparc.iitkgp.ac.in/index.php

Duration and Funding: The proposal will be for a period of two years. 
The budget can be in any one of the three baskets

  • Up to ₹ 50 lakhs
  • From ₹ 50 lakhs up to ₹ 75 lakhs
  • From ₹ 75 lakhs up to ₹ 100 lakhs

Proposals which have longer time visits of foreign faculty will be given priority for larger sized baskets.

Funding details:

  • For a visit of foreign faculty ranging from 1 to 4-month, payment will be made up to US$ 15,000/- for the first month and US$ 10,000/- thereafter including honorarium, travel, stay, etc. Usually, the honorarium of foreign faculty is approx $333 per day.
  • For the visit of a foreign post-doctoral/doctoral scholar, the host Institute will provide suitable free accommodation and an out-of-pocket allowance of ₹ 12,000 per month subject to an upper limit of ₹ 2 lakhs over the duration of the project. The student has to stay for a minimum period of 3 months and register as a visiting foreign student. Tuition fees will be waived by the Indian Institution. Usually, the out-of-pocket allowance for a foreign student is Rs 400 per day.
  • For the visit of an Indian student to the Foreign Institution, payment will be made up to US$ 2000 for travel and $1000 per month for out-of-pocket allowances. Usually, the out-of-pocket allowance for an Indian student is approx. $33 per day.  https://sparc.iitkgp.ac.in/funding_budget.php

Visa Type: The foreign academicians/experts/faculty visiting India under SPARC should apply for Research VISA 


Contact:

SPARC Cell
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
Kharagpur 721302
West Bengal, INDIA
Email: support@sparc.iitkgp.ac.in
Website: http://sparc.iitkgp.ac.in