FTP Blog

1.What was the topic of research and where did you complete your Foreign Training from?
- “The topic of my research was about the documentation issues in Scientific softwares
and the goal was to fix this and document each parametre. This lies in the realm of
Natural Language Processing along with the coding part and I completed my Foreign
Training from Australian National University.”

2.Was your internship onsite or remote? (if onsite) How did you manage your finances? Did
you apply for any scholarships? What were their procedures?
- “It was an onsite internship. This program was funded and I got around 8500
Australian Dollars as part of the program which was more than enough to cover all
the expenses. I lived very lavishly and I didn’t have to cut any corners.”

3. What was your schedule during Foreign Training? How much time did you devote on an
average for the project per day?
- “On average I would say about 5-6 hours of proper work. Although this was average,
some days I used to go earlier when I had meetings which were usually twice a
week.”

4.Did you do any additional projects or courses apart from academics to attain the Foreign
Training? If so, how did you manage them?
- “I have done only external projects and internships in my time in KGP as my major is
in Chemical Engineering which is not even remotely related to my area of research.
During Covid, it was a boon since I could easily handle my major courses online in
my 2nd and 3rd year. I did my first internship with 2 professors in KGP and 1-2
corporate interns and then MITACS.”

5.What should a student who is completely unaware about the application process look up
for information about foreign training?
- “Your first point of contact must be your seniors who have been through the foreign
training program and also try to approach professors who are working in your field of
interest as they do have contacts and information of scientists and professors
worldwide.”

6.Was CGPA a factor during the application process? (if yes) how?
- “I was being told that the filtering that is done at KGP is based on the CGPA but its
not qualitative hence I cannot directly make a statement but in general, whenever IIT
KGP is involved in some filtering, CGPA will be a major factor but if you apply on your
own to the professors abroad, they would generally not be concerned much about
your CGPA but about the projects and experiences as well as your enthusiasm. So, a
high CGPA doesn’t hurt but a low CGPA also doesn’t imply instant rejection.”

7.Did Foreign Training clash with CDC? If yes, how did you handle both Foreign Training
and CDC simultaneously?
- “No. But last year when I applied on MITACS it then clashed with CDC. I was very
clear that I don’t want a corporate internship and hence I didn’t really care about it
since I knew that I wanted to go only for research.”

8.Did you face any cultural and language barrier during Foreign Training?
- “No, since I went to Australia and as it is an English speaking country. But I would like
to share one incident like even if you are 20 m apart from the road they will stop their
vehicles for you, which is really unheard of, which is a sort of difference that you may
experience, that is, respect for laws. So, nothing negative but it was full of positives.”

9.What role does Foreign Training play on one’s CV? Does it provide any extra benefits in
the future?
- “I feel like it does. If your CV has the fact that you have been abroad this gives an
impression that you can survive in a foreign nation and can very well assimilate
yourself with a different culture.”

10. How can 1st year students prepare for Foreign Training? Can you suggest any roadmap
to them?
- “For 1st year students, I would suggest that you try to do remote internships under
professors and do some standard courses to build your CV.”

11. Did belonging to IIT KHARAGPUR provide any additional benefit during the Foreign
Training or during the selection?
- “I feel like it does because the impression of IIT abroad is significantly higher than the
perception of other institutes.”