MTech TA/RA

Both RA and TA are one of the categories to pursue your M.Tech.

TA - Teaching Assistantship

Institutions offering TA: IISC, IITB, IITD, IITK, IITKGP, IITM, IITG, IITH, IITR
Mode of admission:
IISC, IITB, IITKGP, IITM, IITH, IITG, IITR – Purely on GATE Score
IITD, IITK – Based on GATE SCORE + Interview (70:30)
IITH – Only Interview (If seats are vacant)
Course duration: If you are pursuing your M.tech in this category, it will take 2 years to
complete.
Monthly stipend: ₹12400 fixed for the whole period of your M.Tech.
TA Work: You will be assisting faculty of that particular subject in attendance and correction
of answer sheets and some more works related to that course only for a semester. The number
of hours in a week can vary depending on the prof you are working with.
Course pressure: 1st year will be full course work and 2nd year will be for projects with 0–3
courses (depending on the institution) to complete. As far as the first semester is concerned, it
is certainly not tough, it is hectic. 3-4 courses you have to take in a semester. You will have a
midnight time limit for assignment submission. If you will survive for 2-months then this will
be a new normal for you. If you do not try for it then you can not fail in the subject.

RA - Research Assistantship/ M.Tech Research

Mode of admission: Only through Interview and Interview.

Shortlisting criteria: GATE Score + BTech CGPA. After shortlisting everyone will be on the
same platform. So do well in the interview you will be in.
Institutions offering Research Program: IISC, IITB, IITK, IITM, IITH
Course duration: RA category M.tech takes 2.5-3 years to complete.
Monthly stipend: will be different (depending on the institution) for all three years.
1st year - ₹14000
2nd year - ₹15000
3rd year - ₹ 16000
NOTE: Some IITs offers High-value Assistantship where the stipend is 25k. So it depends on
the Project you will be working with.
RA work: RA category (depending on the institution) is of two types:
Institute RA
Your RA duty will be in a lab assigned to you for mostly the whole of your M.Tech. You will be
responsible for daily conduct of the same lab and all other works related to that lab. In short,
you will be working as a lab assistant in a particular lab for the whole of your M.tech. It doesn’t
mean that you will have too much of the workload. You will also be learning everything related
to that particular lab.
Project RA
In project RA you will be assigned a project (for which you have been given admission after the
interview process), and you will have to work on that project only as your M.Tech project.
Course Pressure: In the RA category you have to take less number of courses than TA
ones. The number of credits to be completed is almost the same as of TA category. You can
distribute your course workload in ample time given (3 years instead of 2). By the time they
reach the final year most RAs are done with their courses. So in the final year, they are very
free (compared to TAs) and can prepare for placements better.

Placements: Are you still looking for this? NO difference in the RA and TA category.

Apart from the above, there is no difference between TA and RA. Even RAs have one advantage
of getting exposed to the project more as they will be dedicating more time for the project. RAs
students have sufficient time to publish a research paper and that will add weight in the
resume.
For more detail visit here. Written by 2016 joinee, this blog gives some misleading features of
IITH that is not currently true but still...