Two calls have been announced for the UK India Education Research Initiative.

• UGC UKIERI – the focus of this call is on “e-partnership and research incubation” with an overarching aim to develop ‘jointly funded research and innovation partnerships with core societal benefit outcomes’. Projects can be up to 3 years in duration and up to £200k per partnership. Projects can be new or existing and should include contributions from institutions involved and from other sources. Costs can include PDRAs, PhDs, staff and research costs, travel and admin costs.

• UKIERI MSDE – the focus of this call on “Integration of skills in education system” and aims to ‘build capacity and provide support to India providers through training and development of teaching/training staff and other capacity building activities’. Projects should be between 24-36 months in duration and the value of awards will be up to £120,000 depending upon the scale and impact of the project proposal . Lead UK and India partners are encouraged to form a consortium with organisations such as awarding bodies, colleges, SSCs, other training delivery organisations, and industry partners to support their funding applications.

Evaluation criteria are as follows:

• The extent to which the project might contribute towards both mutuality and long term sustainable partnerships between the UK & India
• The quality of the institutions/organisations applying; are they recognised as Centres of Excellence in the selected field e.g. by government or funding bodies
• The clarity of outcomes proposed with quantifiable outputs including:
• Capacity of the project to contribute to the development of a new technology, curriculum, courses, service or product
• Creation of new ideas and knowledge which can possibly lead to future innovations
• Quality and effectiveness of the partnership methodology
• Social impact expected
• Added value to be expected from the partnership
• Opportunities for faculty, institutional staff, trainers etc
• Linkages, engagement and participation by the business sector
• The extent to which the projects meet the UKIERI principles through:
• Actively involving partners from both countries
• Bringing mutual benefits and a two way flow of ideas
• Having plans to achieve sustainability
• Tools for Social Inclusion/Capacity Building
• Inclusion of ICT tools and digital platforms for outreach, learning and delivery
• Synergy between the universities, institutions and the industry leading to quantifiable economic benefits
• The extent to which the projects applications are well thought through and deliverable, as demonstrated by
• Have specific objectives achievable within a clear timeframe
• Have clearly costed proposals within the available resources
• Have clear ideas for dissemination
• Have a clear approach to monitoring and reporting
• Have recognized potential areas of risk

Please note that the evaluation process and criterion is not exhaustive and can be modified based on the feedback from stakeholders and experts.