SCHEME FOR PROMOTION OF ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH COLLABORATION (SPARC)

About:

• Objective: Improving the research ecosystem of India’s higher educational institutions by facilitating academic and research collaborations between Indian Institutions and the best institutions in the world.
  
  
• Timeline: The Union Government in August 2018 had sanctioned the SPARC at a total cost of Rs.418 Cr for implementation up to 31.3.2020.
  
  
• implementing agency: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur is the National Coordinating Institute to implement the SPARC programme.
  
  
• Working: Under this Scheme, 600 joint research proposals will be awarded for 2 years to facilitate strong research collaboration between Indian and global research groups in areas that are at the cutting edge of science or with direct social relevance to the mankind.
  
  
• Eligibility:
  • Only such Indian institutes can apply which are in top 100 NIRF ranking or top 100 NIRF subject ranking.
    
    
  • For foreign universities the benchmark is either top 500 of QS ranking or top 200 of QS subject ranking.
    
    
  
  
  
• Salient Features of SPARC are :
  • A set of 5 Thrust Areas (Fundamental Research, Emergent Areas of Impact, Convergence, Action-Oriented Research and Innovation-Driven) and sub-theme areas in each thrust area has been identified for collaboration
    
    
  • A set of 25 Nodal Institutions (NI), from India, for each participating foreign country has been identified. The role of a NI is to coordinate with willing Participating Indian (PI) Institutions to forge alliance with the foreign Institutions for research collaboration.