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Sunday, February 22, 2026

Patenting can never be just an academic exercise: Experts

Others are little better, leading an expert from Ambattur, Tamil Nadu, who analysed the data, to wonder, “Are patents being filed as innovation assets or as metrics for rankings and visibility?” Galgotias University, which exhibited a Chinese dogbot at the India AI Impact summit, published 2,233 patents over five years but secured two grants. A sharper focus on 20202023 outcomes (as it takes an average two years to grant a patent under the expedited route) shows even wider disparity. The IITs presented 3,331 patent publications and got 2,118 patents, pushing the success rate to 64%.

The IISc successfully converted 257 of its 379 applications in 20202023, an approval rate of nearly 68%. For Lovely Professional University, the picture was barely any better in that period: 5,774 publications, 164 grants, and a success rate of a mere 2.8%. Chandigarh University shows a sharper skew—5,318 filings since 2020, only 45 grants overall. In 2023, it published 2,350 patents and received 44, a success rate of 1.87%.

The National Institutes of Technology collectively published 2,333 patent applications in 2020- 2025 and secured 949 grants, a success rate of 41%. In 2020-2023, 933 of NITs’ patent publications yielded 626 grants, a success rate of 67.1%, comparable to India’s top public research universities. For serious innovation, according to education experts, patenting can never be just an academic exercise as it requires sustained financial investment in labs, hiring of researchers and legal support to achieve successful conversion and technology transfer. Currently, several privately-run institutions appear to be filing for patents on an industrial scale but have almost nothing to show on conversion. Galgotias University had filed 1,752 applications in 2020-2023 and received none.

Shobhit Institute of Engineering and Technology has a similar story: 961 filings, zero approvals—both cumulatively and in2020-2023.

Pvt univs file more patents but IITs, IISc win more nods

Mumbai : India’s research story in higher education is often told through the rise in patent applications. However, a closer reading of data—from the India Patent Office for 2020-2025— suggests a more uncomfortable reality: the system increasingly rewards activity, not outcomes. The Indian Institutes of Technology, collectively, filed for 6,558 patents and got 2,806, an approval rate of 43%.

The premier Indian Institute of Science mirrors this trajectory, as do the NITs, reports Hemali Chhapia. Now compare this with high-volume private universities. Lovely Professional University leads in numbers with 7,096 patent applications over five years. Yet only 164 granted, a success rate of 2.3%. The IITs presented 3,331 patent publications and got 2,118 patents, pushing the success rate to 64%.

DME launches portal for foreign medical graduates to check vacant internships

Portal to also enable candidates to apply online directly and obtain their allotment orders; Health Minister distributes appointment orders to 668 nurses who served during COVID-19 pandemic

Health Minister Ma. Subramanian unveiling the portal launched by the Directorate of Medical Education during an event to distribute appointment orders to temporary nurses.SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The Hindu Bureau

CHENNAI 22.02.2026

The Directorate of Medical Education (DME) and Research on Saturday launched a web portal to enable Foreign Medical Graduates (FMG) to check vacant internship positions in government and private medical colleges in the State, apply online directly, and obtain their allotment orders.

Health Minister Ma. Subramanian said the portal was launched to do away with the difficulty of students having to search for vacant positions to take up their Compulsory Rotatory Medical Internship (CRMI) training.

Shortly after launching the portal, the Minister said that foreign medical students were previously required to pay ₹3 lakh to the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University to undergo internship training at medical colleges in the State. They also had to visit a number of offices for applications and take up internship positions wherever there were vacancies. This fee was waived after this (DMK) government assumed office, and they were also granted a monthly stipend of ₹25,000 during their internship period.

Following this, the Tamil Nadu Medical Students Association - Foreign wing thanked the Minister for fulfilling their demand to make the internship application process online.

FMGs are required to undergo CRMI to obtain permanent registration in India. For this, they had to visit DME office in Chennai and submit the necessary documents within the specified dates. This caused difficulties for those coming from distant districts. So, they made a request to take this process online. They also welcomed the launch of the portal as the number of available vacancies will be published transparently.

Appointment orders

Earlier, Mr. Subramanian handed over appointment orders to 668 nurses, who had worked during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the last batch of nurses to be given appointment orders.

To ensure that none of the nurses who worked during COVID-19 were left out, they were granted special marks and appointed in 708 urban health and wellness centres, 50 primary health centres (PHC), and urban PHCs, he said.

A total of 2,814 persons were temporarily appointed during the pandemic. Of them, 2,146 had already received appointment orders through the Medical Services Recruitment Board (MRB) on a contractual basis. There were issues in submitting documents for the remaining candidates, and they had requested contract appointments through MRB. They were called individually and their documents were verified. Appointment orders have now been issued to 668 persons.

The Minister said that the State government has been gradually granting permanent posts to those working on a temporary basis through MRB since 2014. “Between 2014 and 2021 — a period of seven years during the previous AIADMK regime, only 1,871 individuals were granted permanent appointments,” he said, adding that as promised in the DMK election manifesto, 5,825 contract nurses have received permanent job orders within five years of the present government.

Guv’s nominee walks out; BDU forms new panel

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 22.02.2026

Trichy : More than 10 days after the governor’s syndicate nominee in the panel for scrutiny of registrar, controller of examinations, and director for centre of distance education appointments at Bharathidasan University walked out, the university administration cancelled the panel and ordered the formation of a fresh committee. S Amudha, the governor’s committee had walked out on Feb 9 over the issue of marking certain candidates as ‘non-eligible’. In this backdrop, an official communication from the university sent on Feb 20 to the members concerned stated the existing committee had been cancelled for “administrative reasons” and a fresh committee constituted. The new committee, is scheduled to meet on March 3.

NMC proposes mandatory corpus fund for med colleges

‘Will Reject Incomplete Applications’

Anuja.Jaiswal@timesofindia.com 22.02.2026

New Delhi : In a bid to tighten the noose on regulatory compliance in medical education, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has proposed making a dedicated corpus fund mandatory for new and recently operational medical colleges, while warning that incomplete applications will be rejected outright. Under draft amendments issued this week to the 2023 regulations governing establishment and expansion of medical institutions, any entity seeking to open a new medical college will have to submit an undertaking confirming that it will maintain a dedicated corpus fund exclusively for the functioning of the institution. The amount will be determined later by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) and may be revised from time to time.

The provision also refers to already operational colleges. Dr M K Ramesh, president of the MARB told TOI that the earlier regulation had mentioned a corpus fund but did not specify any amount, making it difficult to enforce. Instead of deleting the clause, the Commission chose to retain it by seeking an undertaking from colleges, with the exact amount to be fixed after due deliberation. While the wording includes existing institutions, the intent is largely to ensure financial safeguards for new and recently opened colleges. Once decided, the corpus amount will be uniform.

The draft also marks a clear shift toward stricter scrutiny of applications. It clarifies that under the NMC Act, a “scheme” is valid only when an application is complete with all mandatory documents. In the past, some applicants submitted incomplete proposals and later sought additional time — or court intervention — to furnish missing documents. The amendment aims to end that practice by stating that incomplete applications will be rejected at the outset, without further opportunity.

Mandatory documents include a valid Essentiality Certificate from the concerned state or Union Territory govt, a valid Consent of Affiliation from a recognised university, and a solvency certificate issued by a chartered accountant within 90 days prior to the application deadline. The regulator has also empowered itself to withhold processing or reject applications for new schemes or seat increases.

The draft states that any attempt to pressurise MARB or the NMC through individuals or agencies could lead to immediate halt or rejection of the application. By mandating a corpus fund and eliminating room for incomplete proposals, the NMC appears to be signalling that future expansion must be backed by financial preparedness and full regulatory compliance.