SURGE-2022 program for summer internships at IIT Kanpur

Are you an undergraduate student pursuing B.E./B.Tech./B.Arch./B.A./M.Sc. at a higher educational institution in India, Nepal or Bhutan? Learn about the SURGE-2022 program at IIT Kanpur that allows you to pursue an 8-week long summer internship at this prestigious engineering institute. Also, find out the eligibility criteria and funding details of the program.

About SURGE

SURGE is a research-based internship programme, mentored by the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. The SURGE program is a flexible one that allows students from IIT Kanpur, as well as from other colleges elsewhere in India and countries like Nepal and Bhutan. Based on the institute or the country they belong to, the students are divided into three categories. IIT Kanpur students fall in the first category, non-IITK Indian students in the second category and non-Indian students from SAARC countries (Nepal and Bhutan) in the third category. The funding and the eligibility requirements for each category are different.

SURGE stands for Students-Undergraduate Research Graduate Excellence. Through the SURGE internship program, students get the opportunity to undertake a short but focused research project under the supervision of mentors from IIT Kanpur. It is run under the aegis of the Centre for Continuing Education (CCE). The main idea behind SURGE is to promote the culture of high-quality research and interdisciplinary learning in the present generation of college students from the undergraduate level itself. In terms of internship opportunities, SURGE is a highly valuable one as it enables the students to push their learnings beyond the four walls of a classroom and engage in very high-quality research that helps broaden their intellectual limits.

Details about the internship

The tentative duration of the internship programme is approx. 8 weeks, from 13 May 2022 to 14 July 2022. During these 8 weeks, the students have to undertake an extensive amount of research on a chosen project. At the end of 4 weeks, the students have to give a mid-session presentation to a review committee that will consist of IIT Kanpur academic staff. The committee gives feedback and suggests improvements if any. Those students, who engage in exceptional quality research work, are at the end of the internship, given an award and a commendation certificate. The students also make a poster presentation of the work carried out by them. Faculty members from IIT Kanpur evaluate the presentation. The poster presentation is made open to the public also.

Fees for the SURGE program

Application fee (only for non-IITK students) – Rs 500
Administrative charges – Rs 1500 (tentative)

IIT Kanpur students need not pay any application fee. The application fee is to be paid at the time of registration. The administrative charges are to be paid by the shortlisted students only.

Stipend for SURGE candidates

Funding or stipend received by the students depends upon the funding category they have been selected into. There are four such funding categories.

First is the institute (IITK) funded category, wherein the participants receive a stipend of Rs 12,500 for the entire duration of the internship.
Second is the IITK project funded category, wherein the selected students work on projects and receive funds from the faculty members of the institute.
The third is the self-funded category, wherein the students work on projects of IITK faculty, but do not receive any stipend for their work.
The fourth category is the industry-IIT Kanpur tie-up. Students selected under this category work on projects proposed and sponsored by the respective industry. Mentors from both IIT Kanpur and the industry supervise the project; however, it is the industry partner who pays the stipends. Projects under this category are reserved for IIT Kanpur students.

Important datelines

Online application opened on – 12 January 2022
Online application closes on – 04 February 2022

The dates are the same for all three categories of students.

Eligibility criteria

The eligibility requirements are different for all three categories of students. They are given as follows.

IIT Kanpur students

Following students from IITK can apply for the internship.

B.Tech./BS – students who have completed 2nd or 3rd year
Dual degree 5-year courses – 2nd, 3rd or 4th year completed students
M.Sc. 2-year courses – 1st year completed students

Non-IITK Indian students

Following are the eligibility criteria for Indian students from colleges other than IIT Kanpur.

B.E./B.Tech/BS/B.Arch. – 3rd year completed students
Five-year degree programmes – 3rd or 4th year completed
B.A./B.Sc. – 2nd year completed
M.Sc. – 1st year completed

Other countries

As of date, the SURGE program is open only to students from SAARC countries Nepal and Bhutan. There are plans to expand the program further so that students from other selected countries are also able to avail themselves of the internship. The eligibility requirements are as follows.

B.E./B.Tech/BS/B.Arch. – 3rd year completed students
Five-year degree programmes – 3rd or 4th year completed
B.A./B.Sc. – 2nd year completed

From Nepal and Bhutan combined, only four students are to be selected. Students from other countries can also check out the details of the internship offers for international students at IIT Delhi.

How to register for SURGE

To register for the SURGE internship program at IIT Kanpur, the eligible students have to follow the given step by step process.

Students to visit the SURGE-IIT Kanpur website. As a first step, they have to click on the registration link given on the notification page of the website. They have to then complete the initial registration selecting their respective category, whether IITK student, non-IITK Indian student or non-Indian student from other countries. On successful registration, the login credentials will be sent to the registered email address of the students.
In the second step, the students have to pay the application fee of Rs 500 (not applicable for IITK students) by clicking on the online payment portal link. It is advisable that the students first go through the payment procedure link before going for the actual payment. Both the links are given on the notification page itself. On completion of payment, the students should download the payment receipt and note down the transaction ID.
In the third step, the students have to fill out the online application form. They have to click on the given link and log in with the credentials sent to them at their registered email address. The online form is to be filled out in all respect, including, the payment transaction ID. All necessary documents are to be uploaded by the applicant before finally clicking on the Submit button. On successful submission of the form and relevant documents, an application number will be generated and sent to the applicant's email address.

The application number is to be preserved, as all future correspondence will be based on the application number only. Selection or shortlisting of the students will be done by an expert panel, which will evaluate based on the information submitted by the applicants and the recommendation letters.

Documents to be submitted during the application

The students should have the following documents ready while filling up the online application form.

A recent passport size photograph in jpg format and less than 1MB in size
A single file in PDF format containing a Research Proposal and a Current Transcript. The Research Proposal should be less than 500 words. The file size should be less than 3MB.
A Recommendation Letter from a faculty member from the applicant's institute. The letter should be in PDF format and its file size should not be more than 1MB

Students to note that while filling up the online application form, they will be asked for details of a second recommender. This year SURGE office has made away with the requirement of a second recommender. Therefore, the recommender one details can be put in the second recommender's column as well.

For non-IITK students, there is no fixed format for the Recommendation Letter. It should be, however, be on the institute's or the concerned faculty member's letterhead. Representatives from the SURGE office will be directly contacting the recommenders to verify the letters. IIT Kanpur applicants have to submit the letter as per the format given in the link. In addition, IITK students have to submit one signed letter of Mentor Certification from a professor, again as per the given format. IIT Kanpur students thus have to first identify a professor, who can be their mentor for the internship period.

The mentor/recommenders, if for the sake of confidentiality, they want to directly send the letters to the SURGE office, they can do so by sending their letters at the email address surge@iitk.ac.in. while sending the mail they have to include the application number of the concerned student.

Contact details

SURGE Program,
Centre for Continuing Education,
Room number 206, Outreach Building,
IIT Kanpur – 208016

Phone: +91- 512-679 6491, +91-512-259 6491
Email: surge@iitk.ac.in
Important link: http://surge.iitk.ac.in/about.html