Amid Trump admin’s higher-ed squeeze,
Modi govt plans scheme to woo back Indian-origin ‘star faculty’ abroad
Plans to bring back leading Indian-origin scientists come as countries step up efforts to attract talent amid Trump’s crackdown
The government is working on a new scheme to attract Indian-origin “star faculty” and researchers settled abroad to return and work in Indian institutions.
The discussions have gained momentum amid concerns over the Trump administration’s policies towards higher education in the United States, seen by critics as challenging university autonomy and academic freedom.
The Principal Scientific Adviser’s office has also convened meetings with the Department of Higher Education in the Ministry of Education, the Department of Science and Technology (DST), and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) to shape the contours of the initiative.
The proposed scheme aims to bring back “established” Indian-origin scientists and researchers with significant academic work to their credit, who are willing to spend a defined period in India to pursue research, reports 'Indian Express'.
The plan, according to officials, is to strengthen the country’s research and development ecosystem by offering these scholars positions in premier institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology, top research laboratories, and autonomous bodies under the DST and DBT.
To give researchers financial autonomy and operational flexibility, a substantial “set-up grant” may be allowed to enable them to establish laboratories and teams in India. The IITs are on board with the proposal, and several of their directors have participated in discussions with the government on the implementation framework.
According to sources, the scheme will initially identify 12-14 priority areas in
science, technology,
engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) for which talent will be invited.
These will include fields considered strategically important for national capacity building.
When asked institutional and policy changes the government needed for such a scheme, Dr Chintan Vaishnav, an academician at the MIT Sloan School of Management, who was appointed as the Mission Director for Atal Innovation Mission for four years, and is now back in the same school, said,
“On the input side, the key now is to create mechanisms that make their experience seamless — housing, hospitality, day-to-day needs — all those small things that can otherwise become annoyances. This part needs a red-carpet approach, not just policy intent.”
One prominent move — the so-called Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education — offered the US institutions access to enhanced federal funding only if they agreed to a series of ideological and structural conditions (including caps on international student intake, bans on race- or gender-based admissions, and tuition freezes).
At the same time, top universities such as Harvard University have had billions of dollars in federal grants frozen as part of demands to overhaul admissions, governance and faculty policies — actions critics say amount to coercive suppression of institutional independence.
In wake of such interventions, in Europe, programmes to strengthen academic freedom and research funding have been announced, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently stating that she intends to make academic freedom part of European law.
China continues to attract overseas Chinese scientists and leading foreign researchers through well-funded recruitment initiatives, while Taiwan has announced six new research centres as part of efforts to internationalise its higher education system.
Officials familiar with the matter said India’s plan seeks to position its research institutions competitively in this global race. The government hopes the move will help address long-standing concerns about the outflow of scientific talent and strengthen the country’s innovation ecosystem.
While India already runs programmes that enable overseas scientists, mainly of Indian origin, to collaborate with domestic institutions on short-term projects, the proposed initiative is aimed at full-time or longer-term appointments.
ends
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