The country will need at least 1,000 IT teachers to man the 20 IIITs (International Institute of Information Technology) the Union government is planning to set up in different cities. A good number of the 1,000 teachers must have a PhD in order to make the respective IIITs live up to the standards set up by the IIIT Hyderabad.

The Planning Commission had approved a proposal to set up institutes on the lines of the one in Hyderabad. The IIIT-H was set up on public-private partnership model, with no external control on administration. The autonomous institute, which is self-sufficient financially, focuses on research on various aspects of IT and its utility in areas such as health and education.

Andhra Pradesh has already got two more IIITs (based on the Hyderabad model) at Sri City and at Kakinada. “Five to six more institutes are expected to start operations this year. With each of the institutes requiring about 50 teaching faculty, we will have to look for about 1,000 people to drive research in the respective institutes,” P J Narayanan, Director of IIIT-H, told Business Line.

In order to help relevant stakeholders understand the Hyderabad model, the Union Ministry of Human Resources will hold a workshop. Each institute would get Rs 128 crore for developing infrastructure. While the Centre gives 50 per cent of it, the State Governments would contribute 35 per cent, with the remaining 15 per cent coming from the industry.

“Four out of the proposed 20 have started classes, with six more coming up this year. We help in faculty development for the institutes,” he said.

It, however, could be a difficult proposition for the institutes to find qualified faculty as the availability of people with research background in IT and related issues is very low. “What institutes can do is, they can pick promising people as lecturers and send them here for research,” he said.

The IIIT-H has just completed teaching for the first batch of Sri City institute at the former’s Hyderabad campus.

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