5 Point Programme to address problems of PG and RS community

Overview and Scope

The institute’s vision to cater to the betterment of the society is centrally focused on the
research innovations going on in the institute. A coherent research atmosphere can be achieved
only by collaborating the work facets of the Undergraduates, Postgraduates and Research
scholars.

The exceptional work of the Post Graduates and Research Scholars in diverse fields is a prized
reserve of the institute, which should be tapped to encourage many more towards a research
oriented path. A conjunct research culture like many world class institutes will certainly lead to a
closely knit research community. Highlighting their work and redirecting their experience to
guide many other students will not only boost the research frontier of the institute but also
portray it on a global platform.

Moreover there are various issues faced by the PG and RS community in our campus which
need to be addressed at the ground level. Addressing the same would not only provide them
with better experience but also opportunities in the long run.

Proposal

In continuation to these efforts, I propose to introduce reforms on three fronts to address the
issues pertaining to the placements. These fronts include

● Basic introductory program for PGs

● Bridging the gap between UG, PG and RS student communities
● CV making for PG students

What are the existing problems?

1. Lack of basic knowledge

The induction programs are the first funda session for any student entering the institute.
The UG 1st years are informed various things about the institute during the same along
with the information about societies, halls, etc. Since the same doesn’t happen for PG
students, there is a lack of information on various basic fronts.

2. Usage of Lab equipments

Various equipments in the lab are pre-booked over a long period of time. There is no
single central directory which has information on all the lab equipments in a particular
department/centre.
 3. The lack of a coherent research atmosphere interlinking the UGs and PGs
The exceptional work of the Post Graduates and Research Scholars in diverse fields is a
prized reserve of the institute. The lack of a conjunct research culture leads to a loosely
knit research community. Hence there is no formal interaction between UGs and PGs at
the research level. The department representatives shall take care of bridging this gap.
They will conduct sessions or workshops for the UG students where the PG RS students
can communicate with them regarding any doubts they have.

4. Mentor and assistance in making and reviewing CV

There is no mentor or a single platform for PG students to understand the process of CV
making and reviewing. The recently graduated students are in the best position to help
the PG students regarding their CV making difficulties.

5. Lack of Profile Repositories for RS Students

There is no single database with all the proposals of RS students maintained in any
form, especially the information pertaining to their research.

How can these problems be addressed?

1. Introducing induction programs for PG students.

The UG 1st year students have induction programs where in they participate in a wide
range of social activities, sports challenges, and life skills programs. A similar Induction
program for PG 1st year students would aim to inform them about academic and social
issues, help them understand the academic environment, make them feel confident
about their future and help in developing belongingness. This will help them get familiar
with the campus life. This will help the students to get basic information on all the fronts.

2. Online Repository for Equipments

The issue of lab equipments can be solved by introducing a central repository where all
the lab equipments would be listed. It would also have data regarding the authority/
faculty holding the equipments at any point of time. Any PG/RS student can find out
about this and approach them accordingly. Moreover, there are many instances where a
particular kind of equipments is available in multiple labs. The central repository will help
in finding out about such equipments too.

3. Formation of Technical Interactions Club

Formation of a Technical Interactions Club would basically provide a platform for
productive interaction and guidance of UG students by PG students with similar research
interests. This would help in bridging the gap between both the communities on research
front and provide UG students with better opportunities.
To implement this, UG, PG and RS representatives of each department would have to
come together. The department representatives in each section, UG, PG and RS would
 identify different research areas pertaining to their department. After which students with
similar interests in all three sections would be brought under one roof to better connect
them with each other.

4. Formation of peer groups and allocation of mentors to assist in CV Making and

Reviewing Process
Placements are one of the most crucial aspects of a student’s life on campus. Many
students feel the need of having an experienced person who could help them in
reviewing their CV. Students are often unaware of what firms expect out of their CV’s .
This can be solved by formation of peer groups and allocation of mentors to assist them
in CV making and Reviewing process, along with the assistance of Career Development
Center and UG students.
The students shall be asked to upload their CV’s for specific profiles. These CV’s shall
be then accordingly sent to mentors depending on their preferences. The formation of
peer groups would help in creating a coherent system of mutual benefits for review of
their CVs.

5. Profile Repository for RS students

Initiate and maintain a repository of the profiles of RS students in the form of web pages,
containing their information especially pertaining to research. An independent database
with all the profiles will be maintained under a separate section ‘Research Scholars’ and
they will also be linked to the profiles of the Faculty-in-charge on the IIT KGP website.
Also, there will be an online repository of all the projects taken up by professors in all
departments where the project in progress will be described in brief and all the research
scholars and the faculty involved in that project will be hyperlinked.
The data for the student profiles of the Research Scholars shall be taken via ERP with
the fields for various details like: Name, Photograph, Current course details (TAship)
Academic qualifications, Contact Details, Current Project/research details(Including the
Professor in charge, description in brief, duration of work), Previous research work/
Projects/ Internships (Description, time duration, place of work), Research Publications
and Citations.
In coordination with Dean RS, mails will be sent to all the students urging them to add
the relevant details on their ERP. The completion of the same shall be taken care of in
coordination with the Department RS representatives.
After this, the student details will be arranged in an ordered way: Department, Field,
sub-field wise. This hierarchy would be implemented to ease access to a student’s
profile. Also, the links to the student profiles will be added to the IIT KGP webpage of the
faculty in charge. The Department representatives would play a role in achieving this.
The design of the web pages will be looked after, in coordination with the Web
Coordinator, Technology Students’ Gymkhana.
The respective department RS representatives and the Web Coordinator will guide the
students in filling the forms and address their queries. Regular mails for update of their
 data in the ERP will be sent to the students along with constant assistance for self
update of details.

Groundwork
● I have approached Professor Prasanta Kumar Das, Dean PGS&R , with the idea and he was
very positive about its implementation. He is really optimistic about the induction program for PG
and RS students. He is also positive about the profile repository for projects and RS students.

● I have approached Central Research Facility with the idea of repository for lab equipments.
Currently they maintain a online booking system for the equipments available in the CRF
premises. They are really positive about the impact of the formation of a single repository for all
the lab equipments.

● I also approached Placement Coordinator, Mr. Vaibhav Chauhan and Prof. Uday Shankar,
Vice Chairman, CDC regarding the formation of peer groups and allocation of mentors. They
are quite positive about the feasibility and implementation of this initiative.