Gujarat teachers, professors to get financial aid ranging from ₹1 lakh to ₹3.5 lakh for research

The Gujarat government has revised its Research Fellowship and Financial Assistance Scheme, which was introduced as a new provision in the 2023–24 budget to promote research in universities and colleges. 

In the revised resolution, the government has introduced new categories research in Science and Technology will now receive up to ₹3.5 lakh, Commerce and Arts subjects ₹2 lakh, and Languages ₹1 lakh.

Earlier, all selected projects received uniform assistance of up to ₹3 lakh.

The government has also retained the screening test requirement for eligibility. Applicants will need to score at least 60 out of 100 marks in the research evaluation for 1- to 2-year major or minor research projects to qualify for financial aid.

The Education Department has made several key amendments to the original resolution for the Research Aid for Faculty and Research Fellowship Scheme. 

The term ‘higher education’ has now been expanded to include ‘technical education’. In addition, the scheme will now cover not only professors and lecturers but also principals, assistant professors, librarians, and physical training instructors thereby increasing the number of potential applicants eligible for aid or fellowship.

A Subject Expert Committee to be set up by the Knowledge Consortium of Gujarat (KCG) will conduct the screening. Evaluation will be based on specific parameters: 20 marks for evaluation, 20 for research question, 20 for survey, 30 for research methodology, and 30 for research results and conclusions — making a total of 100 marks. Only those scoring 60 or above will be eligible for a grant or fellowship.

The revised resolution also introduces clear subject-wise categories. Earlier, the scheme covered research at the national, international, and state levels with grants of up to ₹3 lakh for both major and minor projects. Now, the government has divided research areas into three categories:

Category A (Science and Technology):

Subjects such as Agriculture, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Environmental Science (20 subjects in total).

Grant: ₹3.5 lakh for two-year major research projects.

Category B (Commerce, Social Sciences, Fieldwork-based studies):

Subjects including Commerce, Economics, Accountancy, Education, Geology, Geography, Journalism, and History (23 subjects in total).

Grant: ₹2 lakh for fieldwork- or data-based research projects.

Category C (Languages):

Subjects such as English, Gujarati, Hindi, and Sanskrit.

Grant: ₹1 lakh for research in language studies.

Across these three categories, a total of 47 subjects will be covered under major projects and 47 subjects under minor projects. Financial assistance will range from ₹50,000 to ₹1.75 lakh for minor projects and up to ₹3.5 lakh for major ones.

In all, the government has allocated ₹1.80 crore for the scheme — covering 94 projects of one- and two-year durations (both major and minor) with ₹90 lakh specifically set aside for project funding