This is seen as a huge leap forward as it will probably establish a shortlisted fellow as a future professor with an outstanding academic career. In the first phase of TFB’s roll-on basis implementation, the Institution of Eminence (IoE) status university is determined to revolutionize the educational landscape by selecting and training its students as fellows for teaching. Highlighting the benefits of fellowship, BHU Vice Chancellor, Sudhir K. Jain says, “Usually PhD scholars have a significant gap between thesis submission and defence, and they do not receive any fellowship during this interval. Teach for BHU Fellows will be creatively engaged in teaching and will receive a one-year fellowship, making them well prepared to transition from fellow to future professor. The teaching experience gained will add to their credibility when they look for teaching jobs. ,
Emphasizing on the justification of the fellowship, the VC further stated that effective oral communication requires confident delivery and clarity of expression stimuli and participation with the audience. More specifically, teaching naturally requires self-reflection to adapt and refine techniques and time-management. Such a unique fellowship, or anything of the sort, has so far been offered to research students in any other Indian university.
The selection will be done by acknowledging the UG, PG marks and quality of PhD course work of the students, which will contribute 50% and the remaining 50% will be counted in the merit list for their communication ability/motivation. The shortlisted candidates will spend 12 months acquiring these qualities and demonstrate skills in leadership, people management and project management, apart from knowledge of the subject. These skills will eventually help them become a better teacher. He said the program includes training in teaching and learning methods.
In India, the hitherto popular CSIR/NET JRF, SRF fellowships are awarded to PhD scholars during their tenure for almost all courses. After their doctorate, most scholars are waiting at the mercy of suitable job vacancies which add gap years on their resume.
The ‘Teach for BHU’ fellowship solves this major problem as PhD students, who are expected to submit their thesis within 6 years from the date of admission, are eligible for the fellowship.
Laxmi Mishra, a PhD scholar in the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism at BHU, looks forward to the TFB fellowship.
The overall personality development of the teachers will be done during the fellowship tenure. After shortlisting, one gets trained in teaching skills and enables them to face and manage real classrooms and more confident to compete or be better prepared for teaching jobs and interviews, She says.
The fellowship is open only to the scholars of BHU, speaking on its restricted eligibility, Shalini Srivastava, a PhD scholar in one of the central universities located in Lucknow, said that in the absence of the TFB fellowship, they would have had to rely on attending workshops and seminars. Is. To gain teaching experience. The fellowship will give a solid exposure to teaching. “Other universities should follow similar initiatives to help research students develop the necessary skill sets so that they can be fit for academic roles,” says Shalini.