Delhi institute IIFR launches to address faculty shortage, deepen global academic ties
New Delhi, Apr 19 — A new institute in the capital is taking aim at India’s acute shortage of world-class faculty, with plans to draw top global academics and build international research partnerships in step with higher education reforms.
The International Institute for Faculty & Research (IIFR), led by former Indian School of Business (ISB) dean Rajendra Srivastava and set up at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan campus in New Delhi, is targeting gaps in faculty development, industry linkages and applied research.
Speaking at the launch, former President Ram Nath Kovind underscored the central role of teachers in nation-building, calling education the foundation of personality development and stressing that teachers hold high respect in society.
He said improving faculty quality is critical to meeting the aspirations of millions of students and noted that institutions like IIFR could help translate the ambitions of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 by focusing on faculty development, innovation in teaching and research collaboration.
“India is producing global leadership talent. Who is producing the faculty to train them?” Srivastava said, outlining an ambition to build an “army of pracademics” — professionals who combine academic rigour with industry experience.
He said the institute is designed to be multidisciplinary, combining management, technology, law, geopolitics and public policy to address complex, real-world challenges, arguing that “the faculty India needs cannot be produced by siloed disciplines.” IIFR will begin its first programmes later this year, with the Educators’ Certificate Programme (ECP) starting July 15 and the Executive Fellow in Management (EFM) from October 1.
Each will initially take about 25 participants. The ECP is an intensive eight-day course focused on curriculum design, case development and teaching methods, with training on integrating industry insights into academic frameworks and using artificial intelligence in pedagogy and research.
The EFM programme, aimed at senior professionals and academics, will cover business innovation, corporate governance, geopolitics, global commercial law and the use of AI in product and market development. Backed by Bhavan’s decades-long legacy and supported by collaborations with global academic bodies such as EFMD Global, IIFR plans to position India as a hub for faculty development serving domestic demand and emerging markets.
Srivastava said faculty will be drawn from institutions across geographies, from Australia to the United States, with plans to expand beyond the initial programmes to include research conclaves and centres of excellence. Kovind also called for stronger collaboration between academia and industry, saying research delivers societal benefits when applied on the ground.
Initiatives such as “Professor of Practice,” he added, can bring real-world experience into classrooms. In the longer term, Srivastava said, IIFR aims to build the “educator of educators,” focusing on developing academic leaders capable of shaping talent pipelines for an innovation-led economy.