Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani has inaugurated GIAN (Global Initiative on Academic Network) project at the Indian Institute of Technology- Gandhinagar in Gujarat yesterday evening. Under project GIAN, institutes of higher education will host guest lectures by internationally and nationally renowned experts and evolve a comprehensive Faculty Development Programme. <br/><br/>The project was launched with two 10-day-long courses -3D Digitization for Cultural Heritage at IIT-Gandhinagar and Orthopedic Biomechanics: Implants and Biomaterials at IIT-Kharagpur. These are two of the 201 courses approved under GIAN from 488 courses proposed by different higher education institutes, which include 31 state universities, 94 central universities, 5 management institutes and 7 AICTE engineering colleges. Human Resource Development Ministry has allocated 35 crore rupees for GIAN in the current financial year. Under the scheme, 500 international faculties will be engaged this academic year and 1,000 in subsequent years. Nearly 200 Indian institutes will host GIAN courses this year.