Collaborative Research Scheme (CRS)

What is the Collaborative Research Scheme (CRS)?

The Collaborative Research Scheme (CRS) is a research-grant programme under the Ministry of Education, administered by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and rooted in the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP). A World Bank-assisted initiative to strengthen technical education in India. The National Project Implementation Unit (NPIU) has historically coordinated TEQIP-linked activities.

According to AICTE material on the scheme, CRS provides financial support in the form of research grants for collaborative projects, supporting the research work of faculty, including young faculty recruited in TEQIP institutions; by pairing them with faculty of other project institutions and premier institutions across the country. The emphasis is on collaboration: a project brings together researchers from more than one institution to work on a shared research problem, rather than funding an isolated individual.

Main features

• Research grants for collaborative projects led by technical-institution faculty.
• Designed to build the research capacity of faculty in project institutions.
• Administered by AICTE under the Ministry of Education, linked to TEQIP.
• Routed through institutions, not paid to individuals as a scholarship.

How CRS relates to TEQIP

CRS grew out of the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP), a long-running, World Bank-assisted effort by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (now the Ministry of Education) to raise the quality of engineering and technical education in India. TEQIP funded better laboratories, faculty development and, through instruments like CRS — research activity in participating institutions. A common confusion is to treat CRS as a scholarship or a fellowship; it is neither. It is a project grant: money is sanctioned to an institution to run a specific, time-bound collaborative research project led by its faculty, and the deliverable is research output, not a personal payment. Because TEQIP itself has been wound down and restructured over the years, any prospective applicant should treat published amounts and timelines as indicative and rely on the current call notified by AICTE. Faculty interested in related research support may also look at AICTE's separate Research Promotion Scheme, which likewise funds institution-led research rather than individuals.

Who is eligible for the Collaborative Research Scheme?

Who can apply:

• Faculty of eligible technical institutions; including TEQIP project institutions (focus and non-focus) and premier institutions: apply as the principal investigator.
• The project must be collaborative, involving co-investigators from other institutions.
• The application must be endorsed and forwarded by the institution.

Who cannot apply:

• Individual students and members of the public; CRS is not a scholarship or a personal-benefit scheme, and there is no direct citizen application.
• Faculty who cannot obtain institutional endorsement, or whose institution is not eligible under the scheme.

Because CRS is an institution-routed research grant, the correct route for an interested researcher is through their own institution's research or TEQIP cell, not a personal online form. If you are looking for a scholarship for study, this is not the right scheme.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Collaborative Research Scheme

1. A faculty member identifies a research problem and collaborating faculty at one or more other technical institutions.
2. Prepare a project proposal with objectives, methodology, the collaborating institutions and an item-wise budget.
3. Obtain institutional endorsement from the head of the applicant institution.
4. Submit the proposal online through the AICTE/NPIU portal during an open call for proposals.
5. Proposals are evaluated; on approval, the research grant is sanctioned to the institution to carry out the project.

Help and contact

• AICTE contact: 011-29581333 (Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi)
• Portal: aicte.gov.in

CRS is a competitive, institution-routed research grant tied to the TEQIP framework. Calls for proposals and precise eligibility, funding ceilings and timelines are announced by AICTE/NPIU; confirm the current status and any open call on the AICTE website before preparing a proposal, as TEQIP-linked schemes are periodically restructured.