The Centre has started a scheme to promote joint research between Indian and foreign universities, gladdening some scientists while others wondered how much it might help in the absence of good laboratories in most institutions in the country.

The human resource development ministry launched the Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (Sparc) last month, allocating Rs 418 crore for the next two years.

Indian institutions ranked in the top 100 by the ministry are eligible, as are private institutions that are outside the top 100 but have a high accreditation score. Institutions can apply only after finding a foreign partner.

The foreign partner has to be in the top 500 of the QS World University Rankings or in the top 200 by subject. It must also be from a pool of 25 specified countries, which include China, Japan, South Korea, the US, Britain, Germany and Australia.

Research students can be involved in the collaboration. The funding will cover the foreign travel by teachers and students to each other’s countries but not the purchase of equipment, meaning the research must be undertaken with the existing facilities.

Soumitro Banerjee, a professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Calcutta, said that thanks to their poor lab facilities, few of the eligible Indian institutions and universities were likely to attract foreign research partners.

“If the in-house research infrastructure is not good, can there be meaningful faculty exchange and research collaboration?” he said.

“Only a few institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology, IISERs and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, which have reasonably good infrastructure, would be able to make use of this new scheme. The main problem is that our universities have been perpetually neglected.”

The scheme will allow collaborative research in areas like the basic sciences, applied and inter-disciplinary sciences, humanities, emerging areas, affordable healthcare, transportation, energy and water sustainability, technology for women’s empowerment and design innovation.

“Collaborations with foreign universities are beneficial, opening up opportunities for quality research. But the absence of collaboration is not the major impediment to research in India,” Banerjee said.

“The major problem is that our universities, which produce a large fraction of our science and technology manpower, face an acute shortage of infrastructure, faculty and equipment. They need far larger financial support than what is given now.”

He said the government was now awarding higher fellowship amounts under the Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship, but this scheme covered very few students (1,000 a year).

“What we need is a larger number of such fellowships. The focus should be on strengthening the research capacity across universities,” Banerjee said.

Kalobaran Maiti, a professor at the department of condensed matter physics and materials science at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, however, said that research collaboration between Indian and foreign institutions provided a win-win solution for both partners.

“The foreign institutions often have high-quality laboratories and require competent manpower, which is available in Indian institutions. For Indian students, research at a foreign institution provides good exposure and research opportunity,” Maiti said.

He said the Tata Institute was already running several collaboration programmes with institutions in Germany and various other developed countries.

IIT Kharagpur is the national-level coordinator for the scheme. Sectoral committees made up of experts in each subject will assess and recommend the research proposals. An apex committee headed by the higher education secretary will formulate guidelines, decide the thrust areas and approve the projects recommended by the sectoral committees.

Sparc may also provide some funds to the foreign partners “on a case-to-case basis” to “attract” them.