CHENNAI: IIT Madras will see an increase in funding from the ministry of human resource and development (MHRD) by nearly Rs 300 crore this year, from Rs 450 crore last year. The Rs 750 crore is expected to flow in from April. It will fuel a slew of plans, as unveiled by IIT-M board Chairman Pawan Goenka , who was appointed to the post for a second term of three years on Wednesday .The plan for expansion looks at everything from strengthening industry-academia ties to increasing faculty strength, highlighted as priority areas by Goenka, also MD of Mahindra and Mahindra Limited Citing that only a quarter of all R&D undertaken by IIT-M was funded by industries, Goenka said this trend "should be reversed by bridging the gap between academia and industry ".Industry should bring in at least 75% of all the research investment for institutes and only the rest should be footed by the government, Goenka said. Industries, he said, should also spend enough time to understand the scope of research projects being undertaken at IITs. Only this can give wheels to the Prime Minister's 'Make in India' vision, he said.The other area of expansion was increasing faculty numbers, and improving the student-faculty ratio in the campus. At present, IIT-M has about 600 teachers and 9,200 students, maintaining a 1:16 ratio. The institute plans to meet the ideal teacher to student ratio of 1:10.About 100 faculty members will be roped in from international universities in next three years to bring more diversity in the institute's research undertakings, Goenka said. This would ensure that IIT-M has at least 15% foreign faculty on-campus.

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