Proposal should be in one of the following areas:

• Physical Sciences
• Chemical, Bio-Chemical & Material Sciences
• Mathematical & Computer Sciences
• Life Sciences & Healthcare
• Electronics, Electrical, Information & Communication Technology
• Mechanical Sciences & Infrastructure
• Earth & Environment Sciences
• Management
• Social Sciences
• Humanities & Liberal Arts
• Architecture, Design, Planning and Heritage
• Law and other Interdisciplinary categories

Subject: Academic Institutes/Universities will identify one or more subjects to be offered in this MHRD scheme and apply for approval to the coordinating body. This subject typically can be interdisciplinary/ industry oriented/ research oriented in nature and scope.
Subjects may be offered preferably in the Summer and Winter vacation of the host Institute. However, this is not a restriction and the subject can be taught in regular academic schedule without hampering the other academic activities.

Foreign Expert: Each subject should be taught by at least one reputed international faculty jointly with one faculty from the host Institute.
The international faculty should be (a) an expert in the area specified in the subject, (b) working in academic institutions/industries/research organizations/independent researcher of international repute, (c) encouraged to engage in a long term collaborative research program with faculty members of the host Institute.
Association of each Foreign faculty/expert would be restricted to maximum 2 distinctly different proposals.

Note: The proposer is expected to be aware that if the proposal is selected then the International Faculty is expected to accept to participate.

New Proposal Submission Guidelines: After receiving an invitation carrying a specific link for course proposal submission from the Local Coordinator/PI – GIAN, IIT Guwahati (Head, CET) through the GIAN portal, invited faculty members should upload (a) course proposal and (b) consent from the foreign expert in “standard” and "PDF" format on the shared link. Uploaded course proposal will be verified by the Local Coordinator/PI – GIAN. After modification and resubmission (if required), Local Coordinator/PI – GIAN will submit the course proposal electronically to GIAN office for review.
In GAIN phase III, MOOC conversion of GIAN completed proposals is the new component. Further, MOOC conversion will be optional for the new proposals but preference will be given to those proposals with commitment for MOOC conversion

Download GIAN Guidelines Phase IV
Download Manual for Course Coordinator                                Proposal Tracking


Proposal submission under GIAN phase IV: 31th July, 2024
Optional conversion of GIAN courses to MOOC format will be taken as an input during proposal submission. If the proposal is approved, two sanction letters, one for GIAN and other for MOOC will be generated by National Co-ordinating Institute.
Each proposal will be submitted to and thoroughly reviewed by a Sectional Committee. Selected proposals will be forwarded to the GIAN Implementation Committee. The GIAN Implementation Committee will give final approval of the proposals. Each approved proposal will be publicized on-line in the GIAN portal.

Conduct of Courses

For Host Institute:

1. Host Institution will insure the conduct of the courses, which will include contact and arrangements for international experts, collection and disbursement of funds, arrangements for classes, accommodation, provision of certificates, credit transfer issues, creation of content and archival/maintenance of repository, linking with GIAN portal, submission to National Digital Library, etc.
2. Local hospitality for international experts will be arranged by the Host Institution.
3. Host Institution will maintain their local GIAN portal which will be connected to the main GIAN portal. It is expected that each such course will be transmitted on-line and/or video recorded for others to view later through the local and national GIAN portal and the National Digital Library.
4. Typically many such courses may offer not only participation certificates but also allow participants to acquire credits. The Host Institution will allow for transfer of credits if required by institutions of participating institutions.
5. Development of Repository: Host Institution will seek prior approval from all speakers for dissemination, archival and creation of repository of the activities conducted. A digital repository of the activities under GIAN will be kept. All permitted courses will be archived by the host institution and made available for dissemination. One copy will also be provided to the National Digital Library. Subsequently these may be used as part of various activities under various on-line programes of MHRD like SWAYAM.

Swayam Guidelines for MOOC Creation:

The detail guideline is available at GIAN (gian.iitkgp.ac.in) and Swayam portal (swayam.gov.in). As per this guideline, the MOOC courses can be either credit (must run as credit course in a semester) or non-credit course. These courses are to be created using four quadrant approach:
Quadrant-I is e-Tutorial; which shall contain: Video and Audio Content in an organized form, Animation, Simulations, video demonstrations, Virtual Labs, etc, along with the transcription of the video. Quadrant-II is e-Content; which shall contain; self instructional material, eBooks, illustrations, case studies, presentations etc, and also contain Web Resources such as further references, Related Links, Open source Content on Internet, Video, Case Studies, books including e-books, research papers & journals, Anecdotal information, Historical development of the subject, Articles, etc. Quadrant-III is the Discussion forum for raising of doubts and clarifying them on a near real time basis by the Course Coordinator or his team. Quadrant-IV is Assessment, which shall contain; Problems and Solutions, which could be in the form of Multiple Choice Questions, Fill in the blanks, Matching Questions, Short Answer Questions, Long Answer Questions, Quizzes, Assignments and solutions, Discussion forum.

GIAN to MOOC conversion:

Since GIAN courses can be both credit and non-credit courses, the following methodology will be implemented to convert GIAN to MOOC courses:
GIAN courses will delivered in such a way so that Quadrant-I mentioned above is completed. The Course Coordinator under the supervision of Local Coordinator, GIAN will be responsible for creating this Quadrant as per Swayam guidelines and also the following guidelines:

1. GIAN courses will be delivered jointly by the foreign faculty and at least one host faculty as per the existing guidelines of GIAN.
2. The foreign faculty should be made aware of the copyright issues as mentioned in the copyright section below and written consent in this regard should be obtained.
3. The course brochure should be uploaded in the GIAN portal and participants will register and attend the course.
4. The course structure should be based on half hour lecture module as per MOOC (NPTEL).
5. The video recording of the courses should be done during the class in presence of the participants with the recording quality as per Swayam Guidelines. The extra funding, if needed, for video recording may be provided by the National Coordinator, GIAN.
6. The contents created in the Quadrant-I will be sent to the National Coordinator, SWAYAM through Natonal Coordinator, GIAN for arriving at a decision of running the course either as credit or non-credit course.
7. The National Coordinator Swayam, based on the decision to run a course as credit or non-credit course, will instruct the host faculty to complete the other three quadrants of the course.
8. The host faculty will be responsible for completing the other three quadrants and offer the completed GIAN course as MOOC course, conduct examination and award credits to the students.
9. Once this is completed, the GIAN course will be offered as MOOC course as per existing SWAYAM MOOC framework.

Copyright

1. The Course Coordinator and the resource faculty of the GIAN course shall follow copyright laws for any readings, images, and video clips used as core and supplementary reading in case of licensed material if used and submit an undertaking to that effect to the LC, GIAN.
2. All contents (text, audio, video, animation, quiz etc.) developed with the funding of GIAN will be the property of GIAN and SWAYAM.
3. All courses and contents posted in GIAN and SWAYAM will be copyrighted to SWAYAM. Ministry will, from time-to-time, announce policies for access and charges, if any (for certification) and will also publish appropriate Open Educational Resources policy in consultation with other national and international bodies.
4. The Course Coordinator and the resource faculty shall be given explicit permission for creating books and other distribution materials ever for commercial purposes with the explicit undertaking that contents published in SWAYAM shall remain there.
5. The terms of service should be clearly laid out so as to address the following key points by the CC:
• Any disclaimers should be clearly spelt out.
• User /student/ institutions should be informed about the usage rights of the course content available on SWAYAM.

For Course Coordinator:

Course coordinator will insure the conduct of the courses, which will include call for participation, registration, selection of participants, conduct of examinations etc. Course coordinator will also insure arrangements for international expert, arrangements for classes, accommodation, provision of certificates, creation of content etc.

1. Credit System: The courses will primarily be credit based.
   
   • 1 credit course: will typically cover 12 to 14 hours over a period of at least one week covering 5 working days.
   • 2 credit course: will typically cover 24 to 28 hours over a period of at least two weeks covering 10 working days.
   For alternative credit structures, such normalized credit equivalence should be explained in the proposal.
   Note: The course can also be designed spanning the semester in accordance with the credit system of the host institute for it’s regular course.
2. Change of date of courses after approval: Change of date for the approved courses is allowed. However, the final starting date should be informed to GIAN within 15 days after receiving the approval letter.
3. Number of foreign experts per course: Only one foreign expert per course is allowed.
4. Consent form for Video recording and broadcasting: Consent for video recording and broadcasting of the courses may be obtained from the foreign experts. They may be informed that video recording of the courses shall be broadcasted nationally/within the Institute. The video recording of the courses can also be linked to the National Digital Library which will be accessible to anyone. If it is possible consent for live streaming of the courses may be obtained. If any foreign expert is not willing to consent for video recording of the courses the same may be discussed with the National Coordinator. Course proposals should have mass appeal and shall be amenable for conversion to MOOC.Necessary consent for this purpose from the foreign faculty /expert should be explicitly included in the proposal.
5. VISA guidlines for Foreign Experts: Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued new VISA guidelines on 10th November 2016 for VISA to the foreign experts coming under GIAN program. As per these new guidelines, following information/documents MUST be shared to the GIAN foreign experts by the Course-Coordinator.
   VISA Type: Business VISA
   Documents required for obtaining VISA:
   • Invitation letter extended by the Director, IITG*.
   • Ministry of home affair's documents (please contact CET office to get a copy).
   • Copy of the sanction letter issued by National Coordinator-GIAN (IIT Kgp) to the Director, IIT Guwahati (please contact CET office to get a copy).
   • Copy of the Course Brochure.
   *Note: To apply for 'Invitation Letter' please submit
   • A request letter to the Director through Head, CET with the following enclosures at CET office:
     1. Copy of the brochure.
     2. Copy of relevant pages of the passport of the foreign faculty member.
   • Download the standard "Invitation Letter Format". Customize the parts covered in angled bracket with relevant information of your course. Please send the duly customized 'Invitation Letter' to hoccet@iitg.ac.in
6. Registration to the Course:
• Registration on GIAN portal for all participants: A token (one time) registration fee of ₹ 500/- (non-refundable) will be charged from all participants in order to avoid casual and bogus registration on the portal in large numbers and to ensure that the registration is done by genuine users who want to enrol for courses facilitated by GIAN programme. Once registered, he/she can apply for any number of courses. However, mere registration to GIAN portal will not ensure selection as participant in a course.
• Course fee for non-students: As per the guidelines given in the course format or as decided by the course coordinator/host institution.
Note: Registration fee for the course will be taken cared by the host institute (rules/ regulations/ planning).
7. Selection of the participants for the course: Please note that, the courses offered by a host institution should be made available for participation from other Institutions. In general it is not expected that more than 50% participants will be from the Host Institution.
   When the number of applicants is very high, course coordinator will shortlist/select the applicants based on the CV of the candidates in the portal for his/her course. This may be done in consultation with the local coordinator. However reason for not shortlisting/selecting a candidate should be recorded for replying to future queries in this regard. Course coordinator, while releasing the select list, should maintain a wait-list also so that if any drop out of the selected participants can be made up from the wait list.
   The course coordinator, then can directly communicate with the shortlisted participants and pass on entire information (how to pay fees, accommodation, how to reach, where to reach, course execution related info etc.) by email from the portal.
8. Development of Course website: If course coordinator wishes to make a website for his course, he/she can make it, integrate it to CET GIAN website and link to his/her course. This website may contain all the info, he/she wishes to pass on to the registered participants. In this ways, he/she will request all the registered participants to visit the website through CET and get all the details.
9. Feedback from Foreign Experts/Course participants: Feed Back from the foreign experts as well as course participants should be made mendatory.Participants should give online feedback through the GIAN portal only.
10. Course evaluation: There should be evaluation and grading of the performance of the participants wanting to obtain credit for these subjects. The performance evaluation of the student has to be made following the usual steps of evaluation prescribed for a regular subject by the host Institute.
    The students can also obtain academic credits for these subjects based on the evaluation and grading process and agreed credit transfer mechanism between that host institute and the home Institutes of the students. The home university of the student will be mainly responsible for transferring academic credits. The host Institute will only provide information on the grading system, subject syllabus, and the academic policy.
    Evaluation as per Institution academic norms is mandatory at the end of the course. Student participants may be willing to obtain academic credit from a course. For courses offering credits, it should follow all standard norms of the Host Institution including continuous evaluation through assignments, quizzes, etc. and examinations like class tests, terminal examinations.
11. Submission of final report: A course completion report including the revised proposal, if any, should be submitted by the course coordinator to the local coordinator.The completed courses, for which MOOC conversation is approved, should be converted to MOOC courses within three months either using thier own capability or utilizing resources of nearby institutes having MOOC conversation facility.
12. Financial guidelines, Fund distribution and utilization certificate: For one week course the budget is maximum 8000 USD and the budget is limited to a maximum 12000 USD for two week course. The break-up heads for utilizing the fund are:
    1. Honorarium and travel of foreign experts/faculty
    2. Honararium for the host faculty and local coordinator
    3. Video recording of the course
    4. Contingencies and miscellaneous expenses, if any.
    • A maximum of Rs. 1.98 lakhs (for one week course, 12-14 lectures) and Rs. 2.98 lakhs for (2 weeks course, 24-28 lectures) can be spent for items (b), (c) and (d) only. Remaining amount should be used for (a) honorarium and travel expenses of foreign experts/faculty.
    • For the courses which may have some lab components, the consumables etc. can be purchased from the contingency amount or from the amount raised from course registration fee.
    • The National faculty / host faculty may get honorarium at the rate of 3000/- per lecture hour and 2500/- per tutorial hour for a course, subject to a maximum of total 12 lectures/tutorials.This should be within the approved maximum allotment of 8000/12000 USD for a course.
    • Food, transport and accommodation of course participants will be borne by the individual course participants themselves.
    • After completion of the course, a statement of expenditure and utilization certificate in respect of the fund sanctioned duly signed by the Finance Officer of the Institute will be sent to the National Coordinator within 30 days, through Local Coordinator, GIAN.
13. Payment to Foreign Experts:
    • Tax to be deducted at source (minimum 10 %) on the honorarium part only. A statement of tax deduction/tax deduction certificate will be given to the foreign experts by IITG to enable him/her to file tax return/declaration in his/her parent country.
    • Bank Transaction should be made through bank transfer preferably towards end of the course. Transaction charges payable to bank to be borne by this amount only.
    • Foreign faculty needs to certify that he/she has not received financial support for the travel from any other source.
    • If a foreign faculty is planning to deliver lecture in two courses or courses at different institutions during a single visit to India, in such cases it may be ensured that travel expenses are not paid twice or by both the institutions for the single journey performed by the foreign expert. However, domestic travel may be supported for moving from one Institute to another Institute.
    • Visa fee and travel expenses incurred for getting visa for foreign expert can be claimed from the travel fund.

1. Following details need to be sent to the Academic Section through the Head, CET either during the execution or on the last date of the GIAN course:
   1. Course Title
   2. Course Duration
   3. Total number of Contact Hours with Lecture Hour per Week and
   4. Course enrolment number with details of the Course Code
   5. Assigned Credit
   6. List of registered participants
   7. Participant’s photographs (Passport size, Hard copy)
   8. Participant’s nationality
   9. Copy of Participant’s Passport/Aadhaar/PAN Card No.
2. Within 5(five) working days after completion of the GIAN course, the Couse Instructor will have to submit Grades to Academic Section through the Head, CET.
3. After receipt of Grades, within 10 (Ten) working days, the Academic Section will prepare Grade cards signed by Asst. Registrar/Dy. Registrar/Academic Registrar and send the same to Head, CET.
4. Office of the Head, CET will distribute/transmit Certificates and Grade Cards to concerned participants and maintain records for future reference/correspondence.