Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has launched the ‘Women Leading IITM’ (WLI) programme to boost women leadership in science and technology.
The institute said in a statement that as part of this, a $2 million (Rs 14.6 crore approximately) endowment will be raised by the end of 2021 with the support of alumni & CSR Grants from corporates. This endowment will be used to fund projects to recruit, develop & nurture women faculty, researchers and students.
In the first year alone, the endowment Fund aims to grant Rs 70 lakh for various initiatives, said IIT Madras.
Here, this programme will make grants each year to accelerate women technologists’ careers as well as provide a supportive environment for women to thrive at IIT Madras.
Ligy Philip, professor and dean (planning), IIT Madras, said, “The ‘Women Leading IITM’ is a well-thought-out initiative by IIT Madras, with support from IITM Foundation, to nurture, develop and support women talent at IITM. This program will definitely help the women talent of IIT Madras to excel in their fields and come out as science and technology leaders.”
The goals of ‘Women Leading IITM’ program will include increasing the percentage of women faculty in Assistant Professorships to 20 percent from the current 15 percent and generating 30 percent of all faculty applications from women candidates.
It also aims to have next-generation ambassadors for enabling a gender-balanced IIT Madras and will also establish an award for women faculty in leadership.
Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras said that the institute has made good progress in the last several years in increasing the percentage of women in the student population, from the undergraduate level all the way up to the doctoral programme.
“The participation of women in the non-teaching staff is also very good, and we are making every effort to close the gap in the case of faculty. The WLI programme will be a powerful catalyst to enable us to reduce the hurdles faced by women students, faculty and staff at IIT Madras to achieve their full potential,” he added.
In 2020, women constituted 18 percent of the students in the undergraduate class at IIT Madras, up from 8 percent in 2017. Further, about 30 percent of PhD students are women up from 22.5 percent in 2017.
The endowment will provide opportunities for alumni to further gender diversity and support women role models at IIT Madras.
Apart from attracting women to faculty positions and academic programmes, IIT Madras is also looking to remove any hurdles to career growth for a woman faculty member.
For instance, the institute said that there could be grant to pay for small-child travel while attending a conference, or a grant to provide for better child care while at work (for children up to five years of age).
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