AICTE-INAE Distinguished Visiting Professorship Scheme

What is the AICTE-INAE Distinguished Visiting Professorship Scheme?

The AICTE-INAE Distinguished Visiting Professorship Scheme is a joint programme of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) that brings seasoned engineers and industry experts into engineering colleges as visiting professors. AICTE is a statutory body under the Ministry of Education, and INAE is the country's apex body of distinguished engineers, so the scheme is designed to close the gap between classroom teaching and the real needs of industry.

According to INAE, a Distinguished Visiting Professor (DVP) shares the state of the art of industry, the industrial working environment and current R&D needs with students and faculty. Beyond guest lectures, a DVP guides student projects, helps update the curriculum, and helps set up cooperative academia-industry programmes at the host college.

What the scheme is trying to do

• Expose engineering students and teachers to real industrial practice and live R&D problems.
• Use the experience of senior engineers, including retired experts, who might otherwise not be in the teaching system.
• Strengthen the link between AICTE-approved colleges and industry through project guidance and joint programmes.

Who is eligible for the Distinguished Visiting Professorship?

A person can be nominated as a Distinguished Visiting Professor if they:

• Hold at least a bachelor's degree in engineering or an equivalent qualification.
• Are between 45 and 75 years of age; the Selection Committee may consider exceptions.
• Have a minimum of 10 years of industry experience with distinguished accomplishments such as patents, products, publications or awards.
• Are a retired INAE Fellow; such Fellows also qualify.

A host institution is eligible if:

• It is an AICTE-approved engineering college or institute.

Who cannot apply: students and research scholars cannot apply for a personal benefit under this scheme, it is not a scholarship or fellowship. Colleges that are not AICTE-approved are not eligible to host a DVP. A person who has already completed a DVP tenure cannot reapply. Because the appointment involves a host institution, an individual expert cannot receive the professorship in the abstract; a college must nominate or agree to host them.

How much benefit does the scheme provide?

According to INAE, the financial terms of the scheme are:

• Honorarium of Rs 10,000 per lecture day.
• Travel for in-person visits, reimbursed at economy (Y-class) airfare, actual rail fare, or approved road-travel rates.
• Local support from the host institution — guest-house accommodation and conveyance during the visit.

For the online mode, only the honorarium is paid and no travel is reimbursed, because there is no journey involved.

How many visits and for how long?

The scheme is structured around short, repeated engagements rather than a full-time posting:

• In-person mode: up to two visits per semester, each of a maximum of three consecutive days.
• Online mode: up to two sessions per semester, each of a maximum of three days; if the days are not consecutive they are to fall within a two-week window.

The appointment is initially for one year and is extendable up to a maximum of five years, subject to annual performance reviews. A DVP may be associated with at most two institutions across the whole tenure, and a break of up to two years is permitted mid-tenure.

How to apply for the Distinguished Visiting Professorship

The scheme has no citizen self-registration portal; it works through nomination to INAE. To be considered:

1. Prepare the nomination, the proposed professor and the AICTE-approved host institution agree on the association, and the professor's detailed CV is compiled showing the degree, 10+ years of experience and distinguished accomplishments.
2. Fill the prescribed DVP application form issued by INAE, with the host institution's endorsement that it will provide the guest house, conveyance and academic setting.
3. Submit the nomination to INAE headquarters by the announced deadline. INAE issues a fresh call periodically; for example, the 2022-23 call closed on 15 April 2022, so intending applicants should watch the INAE website for the current window.
4. Selection is done by INAE's Selection Committee, after which the appointment letter is issued for the first year.

Because deadlines and the exact application format change from cycle to cycle, the authoritative source is the DVP scheme page on the INAE website. Amounts and rules quoted here reflect the scheme terms published by INAE and should be re-checked against the current call before applying.

Who runs the scheme and where to get help

The scheme is administered by INAE in partnership with AICTE. The point of contact for nominations, forms and deadlines is the INAE Secretariat, whose details and the live DVP call are published on inae.in. Colleges interested in hosting a DVP should route their proposal through their institutional office to INAE rather than through any third party, since there is no fee and no agent involved in this academic scheme.