AICTE Distinguished Professional Scheme (DPS)

What is the AICTE Distinguished Professional Scheme?

The AICTE Distinguished Professional Scheme (DPS) is a mentorship initiative of the All India Council for Technical Education, a statutory body under the Ministry of Education. According to the AICTE Staff Development Schemes page, the scheme "intends to utilize the expertise of highly qualified and eminent Professionals by creating a pool of experts from Industry, Institutes, Research Labs and Senior civil service officers in their domain for motivating and inspiring the students and faculty members of AICTE approved institutes."

In plain terms, DPS builds a national panel of distinguished experts and sends them into engineering and technical colleges to give lectures, mentor students and guide faculty. It is not a scholarship for students and not a grant for colleges. The only person who receives money is the empanelled expert, who is paid an honorarium of Rs 15,000 for each full-day interaction.

The scheme sits alongside AICTE's other staff-development schemes and is aimed at closing the gap between classroom teaching and real-world professional practice, including drawing on the Indian Knowledge System and lived industry experience that regular faculty may not have.

Who is eligible for the Distinguished Professional Scheme?

You can be nominated if:

• You are a highly qualified, eminent professional from industry, an academic institute, a research laboratory, or senior civil service.
• You have made an outstanding, well-recognised technical or professional contribution in your domain; evidenced by awards, patents, publications, senior leadership or comparable distinction.
• You are willing to visit AICTE-approved institutions, including rural ones, and interact with students and faculty in person.
• You are below the upper age limit. The tenure runs until age 75.

You cannot apply if:

• You are a student looking for a scholarship — DPS does not pay students.
• You are an institution looking for a grant; colleges host the experts, they do not receive DPS money.
• You are an early-career professional without a distinguished, eminent record; the scheme is deliberately reserved for standout experts.

Because the benefit flows only to the empanelled expert, the most common misunderstanding is that students or colleges can "apply for DPS funding." They cannot. Individuals with an ordinary professional profile are also not eligible. The bar is eminence in the field.

What are the benefits under the AICTE DPS?

• Honorarium of Rs 15,000 per full-day interaction with faculty and students.
• Travel and local hospitality arranged and paid for by the host institution, separate from the honorarium.
• Recognition as an AICTE Distinguished Professional and inclusion in the official panel (Annexure A list of Distinguished Professionals).

For students and faculty, the benefit is indirect but real: access to leading practitioners, industry insight, mentorship and exposure they would not normally get from the regular curriculum.

What are the obligations of a Distinguished Professional?

• Make up to two visits per month, capped at 12 visits per year.
• Include at least three visits to rural-area institutions each year.
• Deliver lectures and mentoring, and submit a report on the DPS lecture (AICTE Annexure B format) for records and honorarium processing.

The tenure is three years or until the age of 75, whichever comes first.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the AICTE Distinguished Professional Scheme

1. Open the AICTE website and go to the Staff Development Schemes page under the Schemes section.
2. Read the current DPS Scheme Document (the 2024-25 document is published on the same page) to confirm eligibility and obligations.
3. Access the DPS nomination portal linked from that page and create or log into your account.
4. Fill in the nomination form with your professional profile, domain of expertise and supporting evidence, and upload your CV and proof documents.
5. Submit the honorarium form (Annexure C1) and mandate form (Annexure C2) as required for payment set-up once empanelled.
6. Submit the nomination. The window is open throughout the year, so there is no single deadline.

After empanelment, host institutions coordinate the visit schedule with the Distinguished Professional, and the honorarium is processed against the visit report.

How does the honorarium get paid?

The Rs 15,000 honorarium is paid per full-day visit, processed by the host institution and AICTE against the submitted lecture report and mandate form. The host institution separately arranges travel and local hospitality, so those costs do not come out of the honorarium.

Help and where to check details

The authoritative source for the scheme is the Staff Development Schemes page on the AICTE website, which hosts the latest Scheme Document and all annexure forms. AICTE has not published a dedicated DPS helpline number; queries are routed through the general AICTE contact channels listed on its website. Always verify the current honorarium, visit norms and nomination link against the official Scheme Document before applying, because AICTE revises its scheme documents year to year.