CHENNAI: NITI Aayog has appreciated Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister Research Fellowship (CMRF) scheme in its recently released report – Expanding Quality Higher Education Through States and State Public Universities – which presents the affairs of the higher education sector in the country.
While making recommendations to improve research activities in state-run universities across the country, NITI Aayog has highlighted the CMRF scheme as a best practice. CMRF was launched in 2022 by the state government in its bid to make Tamil Nadu a research hub.
The objective of the scheme was to create a research platform for meritorious economically backward postgraduates and develop professional/academic research careers under the mentorship of an established researcher. It had an estimated budget outlay of Rs 12.3 crore in 2023. The monthly fellowship amount for the first two years under the scheme was Rs 25,000 and Rs 28,000 for the third year.
Academicians have opined that the scheme has helped boost research activities in government colleges. Even the state government, after analysing the positive results last year, had increased the intake capacity of PhD students under CMRF, from 120 to 180, and had also allowed students of aided-government colleges to apply for it. “The scheme has helped financially weak students to pursue research work,” said K Parathasarathy, a faculty member in a government college.
The report states Tamil Nadu has allocated Rs 7,237 crore in the budget for higher education, which is the third highest in the country.