AICTE – Mitacs Globalink Research Internship (GRI) Scheme(AM-GRIS)

Overview

About AM-GRIS

An Indian engineering undergraduate selected for this scheme spends a summer in a Canadian university laboratory, and the scheme pays for the trip. The sequence is what catches people out. Mitacs releases an intern's funds only after the internship has started and the intern is physically in Canada, so the passport, the visa file and the early travel arrangements are handled out of the student's own pocket first. The second surprise sits in the marks bar: AICTE's scheme guidelines and Mitacs's page for the Indian cohort do not set it at the same level.

The AICTE-Mitacs Globalink Research Internship (GRI) places Indian engineering undergraduates on a research project at a Canadian university, supervised by a faculty member there. AICTE is the Indian side of the arrangement; Mitacs, the Canadian body that calls itself a national innovation connector and whose name stands for Mathematics of Information Technology and Computer Systems, owns the project database, the application platform and the selection.

AICTE signed its first Memorandum of Understanding with Mitacs on 23rd February 2018, and the scheme guidelines published on that MOU set the internship at 12 weeks and the intake at 300 students in a financial year (AICTE-Mitacs GRI scheme guidelines).

That agreement was renewed. Mitacs announced on March 2, 2026 that it had signed a fresh MOU with AICTE, in effect for three years, supporting 300 senior undergraduate students from India each year, with the first cohort under the renewal arriving in Canada in summer 2027 (Mitacs, India talent mobility announcement).

Mitacs also states in that announcement that it has supported more than 4,000 applied research projects connecting Indian and Canadian institutions since 2018, which is the longest run of activity either partner puts a number to (Mitacs, India talent mobility announcement).

Who runs it

Provider

At a glance

Key details

Calendar

Important dates

The window for the coming cohort is open as this page is written, and it closes in September for internships that run the summer after.

Mitacs says the student call is typically open for six weeks, and that applications will not be accepted past the deadline. AICTE's guidelines describe the internship window slightly more narrowly, as twelve weeks between May and September.

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

Two rulebooks govern who can apply, and a student sitting on the border between them should plan for the stricter one.

AICTE's scheme guidelines ask for a 3rd year full-time student of a B.E or B.Tech programme at an AICTE-approved institution in the year of application, a minimum CGPA or GPA of 85% in the 2nd year, an age of at least 18, availability for twelve weeks between May and September at a Canadian university, and oral and written fluency in English or French depending on the language the Canadian host professor has set for the project (AICTE-Mitacs GRI scheme guidelines).

Mitacs publishes a separate block for the Indian cohort. For 2027 it restricts the scheme to Indian nationals, limits the disciplines to Engineering (B.E) and Technology (B.Tech), sets the minimum cumulative grade point average at 70%, requires no language proficiency exam, and states that applicants from Indian Institutes of Technology are not eligible for the 2027 GRI programme (Mitacs Globalink Research Internship, student page).

Disciplines are the second place the two documents pull apart, and this one has no safe middle. AICTE's guidelines open the programme to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines (AICTE-Mitacs GRI scheme guidelines), and Mitacs describes GRI worldwide as running across fields from science, engineering and mathematics to the humanities and social sciences. The India block is narrower than either: Engineering (B.E) and Technology (B.Tech) (Mitacs Globalink Research Internship, student page). A B.Sc or M.Sc student who reads the wider descriptions has no route in through the AICTE cohort.

The institution condition is absolute rather than descriptive. Mitacs names AICTE as the Indian partner and links a list of eligible Indian institutions; its own wording is that if your institution is not on that list, you are not eligible to apply (Mitacs, GRI 2027 eligible universities). The list itself is built from AICTE's approval records for the academic year 2026-2027 and names each institute with its type, region, state and district (Mitacs, India AICTE eligible institutions).

On top of the country block, Mitacs applies its general rules for the 2027 intake: you must be 18 at the time of application, enrolled full time in an undergraduate or combined undergraduate-master's programme, have completed at least two years of undergraduate study or be enrolled in the second year, have one to three semesters remaining as of fall 2027, and be fluent in the spoken and written language of the project, English or French, to the level needed to carry out the research itself. Applications must go to a minimum of three and a maximum of ten projects drawn from at least three different Canadian provinces (Mitacs Globalink Research Internship, student page).

Where the two documents differ on marks, the safe reading is that AICTE's 85% is the bar to aim for while Mitacs's Indian cohort page carries the requirement the platform screens against. If your average sits between the two, write to helpdesk@mitacs.ca before the window closes rather than after.

Who cannot apply

Exclusions

The myScheme entry for this scheme leaves the exclusions field blank, but the programme rules disqualify several groups outright, and most of them are avoidable errors rather than categories of person.

Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are outside the scheme entirely. Anyone previously awarded a Globalink Research Internship project cannot take a second one. Applications sent by email are not accepted, and a reference letter written by an academic institution staff member rather than a professor who supervised your work makes the application ineligible. An incomplete application is not assessed at all (Mitacs Globalink Research Internship, student page).

There is also a research-security screen. An applicant currently affiliated with, or receiving funding or in-kind support from, an institution on Canada's named research organisations list cannot take part in a Mitacs-funded project that advances a sensitive technology research area, and Mitacs validates a sample of the declarations it receives (Mitacs Globalink Research Internship, student page).

Continuation

Renewal conditions

A Globalink internship runs once. The 2027 eligibility rules bar anyone who has already held a GRI project, so there is no second summer to renew into and no continuation to apply for.

An unsuccessful applicant is in a different position. Mitacs's own guidance is that those not accepted may reapply the following year for as long as they remain eligible, and that the volume of applications makes individual feedback impossible (Mitacs Globalink Research Internship, student page).

What you get

Award & benefits

The money is split between the two partners, and the split is published in Canadian dollars because that is the currency the programme is costed in.

AICTE describes the full cost per student as covering airfare, visa, medical, stipend, accommodation, Globalink Student Mentors, programming and research costs, plus access to Globalink-branded activities in Canada such as professional skills workshops, receptions and industrial engagement activities (AICTE-Mitacs GRI scheme guidelines).

Mitacs breaks the same award into its parts: a contribution toward round-trip airfare, a contribution toward transport from the Canadian airport to your accommodation, a housing stipend, a stipend toward student enrolment fees at the host institution, a stipend for food and incidentals, an emergency health insurance policy for the length of the internship, campus student mentors, and access to industry events and professional development courses. Mitacs marks several of those amounts as varying by country of origin and by host institution and attaches a figure to none of them (Mitacs Globalink Research Internship, student page), so the split in the table is the only money either partner commits to in writing.

The timing is the part worth planning around. Mitacs states that funds are disbursed to interns only upon the start of their internship and require the intern's physical presence in Canada to be received, and that some interns instead receive funds through the international partner, with the award letter carrying the instructions. Insurance runs for the internship plus two days on either side of it (Mitacs Globalink Research Internship, student page).

• The AICTE-MITACS GRI Program will be jointly funded for 300 students by AICTE & MITACS as per the details below:
• The total cost of the program is $12,000 CAD per student.
• MITACS will contribute $9,000 CAD per student.
• AICTE will contribute $3,000 CAD per student.
• The full cost per student includes airfare, visa, medical, stipend, accommodation, Globalink Student Mentors, programming, and research costs. It will also include access to Globalink-branded activities in Canada, which may include professional skills workshops, receptions, and industrial engagement activities.

What to prepare

Documents required

AICTE's guidelines list what has to reach the Mitacs portal: official yearly transcripts for all years in university, a CV, one reference letter from a post-secondary academic supervisor or researcher together with a project rationale, and anything further the portal asks for (AICTE-Mitacs GRI scheme guidelines). Materials must be in English or French, and where they are not, AICTE's wording is that notarised transcripts must be submitted.

Mitacs adds specifics on each item. The reference letter must come from a professor who supervised or co-supervised your work, can speak to your academic and research experience, and signs it on institution letterhead. Transcripts must be in the language of the projects you applied to, and one issued in any other language goes in as a scan of the original alongside a translated and notarised copy. A CV template and the reference-letter instructions sit inside the downloadable GRI Information file on the student page.

One document sits outside the application form. Mitacs asks applicants to confirm that a passport issued by their home country is valid until at least January 2028, though you may submit without one and supply the details if your application is approved (Mitacs Globalink Research Internship, student page). AICTE, for its part, requires the intern to submit a feedback form on completion of the internship.

Step by step

How to apply

There is no AICTE form and no institutional nomination step for India. AICTE's own students development schemes page describes the GRI programme and then sends the student straight to Mitacs with an apply link (AICTE, students development schemes). Some partner countries route students through their home institution first; India does not.

The application itself runs on the Globalink Student Platform. You create one personal account, choose India and then your institution from the drop-down list, search the project database by institution, province and keyword, and build a shortlist inside the project limits. Read those limits off the 2027 eligibility block rather than the platform FAQ, which still carries an older ceiling for the same rule (Mitacs Globalink Research Internship, student page). The application asks about your academic discipline and programme, your research interests, skills and achievements, and your reasons for wanting to do research in Canada. Work can be saved and resumed.

The submission mechanic surprises people. There is no submit button; applications go in automatically at the deadline, and what matters is that your status reads Complete before it passes.

What the Student Platform Shows After the Deadline

Your profile on the Globalink Student Platform shows the current status of the application, and Mitacs notifies applicants of updates by email. Students accepted into the programme receive a confirmation email between mid-December and mid-February, with the operational details of the placement following closer to the travel date. Platform faults go to helpdesk@mitacs.ca, and Mitacs asks for up to five days for a reply, which is why it warns against leaving a technical problem until the fortnight before the deadline (Mitacs Globalink Research Internship, student page).

The myScheme listing is less useful here than the two operators' own pages. It records the application mode as offline and carries no application link, which does not match the online platform the scheme actually runs on (myScheme, AICTE-Mitacs Globalink Research Internship (GRI) Scheme).

How winners are picked

Selection process

Mitacs assesses applications after the call closes, not as they arrive. The stated factors are the eligibility criteria, the applicant's cumulative grade point average, the quality of the statement of interest, the quality of the reference letter, and how closely the applicant's research interests and experience match the focus of the project or the professor. Incomplete applications are not assessed (Mitacs Globalink Research Internship, student page).

Applications that clear that stage move to a matching phase, where the research section of the form is read by the professors themselves. Host professors are encouraged to interview applicants over video to judge language ability, and an applicant who does not demonstrate it may have the application revoked. Mitacs is blunt that neither eligibility nor an interview guarantees an offer, and that copied work is automatically rejected.

On how competitive it is: the renewed MOU supports 300 senior undergraduate students from India each year (Mitacs, India talent mobility announcement), the same number AICTE's guidelines set as the internships available in a financial year (AICTE-Mitacs GRI scheme guidelines), and neither partner publishes how many Indian students apply, so the ratio is not something anyone can honestly quote.

Fine print

Terms & conditions

An intern works 40 hours a week, five days a week, for 12 consecutive weeks, and is expected to remain in Canada for the full duration (Mitacs Globalink Research Internship, student page). Missing time for illness or to attend a Mitacs event has to be flagged to the host professor. Attendance at the industry and professional development events Mitacs runs is encouraged rather than compulsory.

Before admission, an intern agrees to a code of conduct, a liability waiver and an immigration policy consent, and a breach can cost the certificate of completion or a place in the programme. Cancellations are reviewed case by case and Mitacs may require all or a pro-rated share of the funds back. Mitacs claims no ownership of intellectual property developed in the projects it funds, and recommends that the institutions involved settle the IP position between themselves.

The immigration route is the step that carries the most instructions, and what it produces is not a work permit. Mitacs's immigration guidebook, written for the 2026 cohort, instructs interns whose internship runs 120 days or less to obtain a visa or an electronic travel authorisation before travelling, then to ask the border officer at the port of entry for a visitor record, form IMM1097, citing the 120-day short-term work permit exemption under the Global Skills Strategy stream. The visitor record has to carry the remark authorising work in Canada as a researcher, because without it a Social Insurance Number cannot be obtained. The same guidebook requires at least 6 months of passport validity ahead of the expected departure from Canada, notes that biometrics may be required and will extend processing, and states plainly that Mitacs cannot give immigration advice (Mitacs, GRI immigration guidebook).

Get help

Contact

Programme, platform and eligible-institution questions go to helpdesk@mitacs.ca, which is the address Mitacs prints against all three on its student page. On the Indian side, AICTE carries the scheme under its students development schemes listing, which is where a change to the Indian eligibility block or the institution list would appear first (AICTE, students development schemes). The scheme's record on the national scheme directory names the Ministry of Education's Department of Higher Education as the ministry and AICTE and Mitacs as the implementing agencies (myScheme, AICTE-Mitacs Globalink Research Internship (GRI) Scheme).

Source

Official links

Frequently asked questions

From the official scheme FAQ (myScheme)

Read this

Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Scheme details are compiled from myScheme, the Government of India’s official scheme-discovery platform, and are reproduced without alteration. Amounts, deadlines and eligibility change between cycles, so always confirm on the official links above before applying. Expertie does not process applications or charge fees.

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References

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