Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has launched the ‘Women Leading IITM' (WLI) programme to boost women leadership in science and technology. The programme will make grants each year to accelerate women technologists' careers, the institute said. The inaugural grants will be issued today, March 8, to mark the International Women's Day.
The Institute is planning to raise the USD million endowment by the end of 2021, which will provide annual grants to support programmes taken by women students, faculty and researchers, IIT Madras said.
Highlighting the aspects of this programme, Prof. Ligy Philip, Dean (Planning), IIT Madras, said, “The ‘Women Leading IITM' is a well-thought-out initiative by IIT Madras, with support from IITM Foundation, to nurture, develop and support women talent at IITM. This programme will definitely help the women talent of IIT Madras to excel in their fields and come out as S&T leaders.”
Goals of ‘Women Leading IITM' programme will be to increase the percentage of women faculty in assistant professorships to 20% from the current 15%, among others.
IIT Madras Director Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi said The programme will be a “powerful catalyst” which will reduce hurdles faced by women students, faculty and staff at IIT Madras and help them to achieve their full potential.
Rohini Chakravarthy, Board Member of the IIT Madras Foundation, said, “While women have been a minority at IITM, but there have been many exemplary leaders among them over the years. The alumni of IITM felt that we could help our alma mater by putting in place a series of grants that honour promising leaders among students, staff, and faculty and catalyze programmes that help women thrive at IITM. What better time to do it than on International Women's Day!”
