India Higher Education Research Network (IHERN) is a collective of scholars in higher education in India. The vision of IHERN is to enhance research and studies in higher education in the country and build a research ecosystem that can feed into policy making. The objective of IHERN is to make it a hub for higher education research in India through various projects, events and evidence synthesis and policy advocacy.
Activities of IHERN are presently conceived and driven by a Steering Committee. Over a period of time, IHERN will have Members who are either early researchers or established scholars from different academic institutions, and centres engaged in research and study of higher education in India. The Membership to IHERN is not limited to Indian scholars and is extended to international scholars working on higher education in India. Membership fee for the first year is waived off.
The Members of IHERN will receive invitations for the Monthly Seminars on higher education research organized by IHERN and will be eligible to apply for Fellowships, for RFPs for Research Grants announced periodically by IHERN. The Members will also be eligible for conference fee waivers and travel support for presenting papers in high-quality international conferences, subject to agreements with conferences.
Membership is now open. If you are a researcher in the field of higher education in India and interested in joining IHERN, please send an email to ihern@iiitd.ac.in . An online joining facility will be enabled in the due course of time.
Self-nominations for Fellowship is now open. If you wish to apply for this, please send an email to ihern@iiitd.ac.in - you will be sent the form for filling. The last date for application is 10 March 2024. A maximum of five Fellowships will be awarded this year. Selection will be made by a Committee comprising of Senior Scholars of IHERN and Steering Committee Members.
IHERN Webinar
Tuesday, 3rd December 2024, 4:00 pm onwards
Title: Enhancing the NIRF Rankings: Towards a Robust Framework for Indian Higher Education
Registration required for the webinar: Yes
Speaker: Prof V. Ramgopal Rao
The following initiatives of IHERN are already in action.
1. Fellowship: For the first three years, each year a limited number of Members who are active researchers in higher education in India will be granted Fellowships. The main expectation for granting the Fellowship is that the member will publish at least one good quality research paper on higher education in India in a reputed journal/conference. He/she is also expected to lead one of the key activities of IHERN. These Fellowships are of Rs 3 Lac/year which can be used for any professional higher education research work, including attending a reputed international conference for presenting a paper. The Fellowship will be for a period of two years. For an international Member, the Fellowship can be used to visit some Member (s) in India. The first round for Fellowships was floated in March 2024, and three fellowships were awarded.
2. Senior Scholar Program: Some Members, who are senior academic thinkers with experience in higher education leadership are invited to take charge as Senior Scholars of IHERN. The main expectation from Senior Scholars is to write a well-researched and detailed Report on matters of high importance in Indian higher education. For writing a Report, a Senior Scholar will be paid an honorarium of Rs 1.5 Lac and may be provided with support for travel/secretarial assistance of up to Rs 1.5 Lac.
3. Research Grant for Human Resources: One Grant a year of about Rs 15 Lac for human resource will be granted by IHERN. It is expected that this Grant be used to recruit a PhD student or support a PhD student to spend some time in a reputed higher education research centre overseas, but can also be used to hire a research associate/assistant. All members will be eligible to apply for this Grant. Applications for this will be opened later and will be announced on the website and Members will be notified.
Currently there are a few focused activities which are planned to establish and grow IHERN. Each activity is being led by a Member (for the next few years these members are likely to be recipients of fellowships) For each of these activities, the lead forms a small team. Support for these will be provided by IHERN Steering Committee.
1. Monthly Online Seminars on Higher Education (Led by: Vivek Nair, IIT Delhi): As a research network, one of the key activities is to promote good research is by having seminars by researchers from India and abroad. Notice for the Seminars will be posted on the website, and emails will be sent to all Members with details of the Seminar presenter and the topic.
2. Membership and collaborations (Led by Neeta Inamdar, Symbiosis Centre for Research in International Higher Education, and Manipal Academy of Higher Education): In this activity, the initial objective is to invite those who are doing research/studies in higher education in India to be a part of IHERN and then expand this Network to encourage more researchers to join. International collaborations will be explored as this Network of scholars grows.
3. Start an Annual Conference (Led by: Debanand Misra, IIT Delhi): The Fellows and Senior Scholars plan to organize an Annual Conference on higher education in India.. This Conference will aim to be self-supporting through sponsorships and registration fees, though initial support will be provided by IHERN. A Senior Scholar will be the General Chair for the Conference, and one of the Fellows will be the Program Chair.