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Sam Pitroda
Chairman
06 Nov, 2008
Dear Mr.
Prime Minister,
It is widely recognised that a nations transformation to a Knowledge and Skills Economy
is critically dependent on the original research and development taking place within the
country. If India is to make the transition to a Knowledge economy, it is therefore vital
that research and development within the country be dramatically improved. There is
ample evidence that India is not well-placed for this future transformation. For example,
in many disciplines, there is already a severe shortage of well-trained young doctorates to
fill in existing posts in research institutes and universities. This problem is likely to be
even more acute in the envisaged elite new universities. The growth in the number of
doctorates has only been 20% in India in the period 1991-2001 compared to 85% in
China. Not more than 1% of those completing undergraduate degrees currently opt for
doctoral studies in India, and a substantial number of students prefer to go abroad. To
address these problems, there is a pressing need for urgent government policy
interventions, including high priority initiatives to attract, nurture, and retain the countrys
best young minds in academia and research.
With this objective, the NKC conducted a wide-spread investigative survey across the
country and abroad. Workshops and consultations were also held with other stakeholders
from industry, research institutes and universities. The attached note on More Quality
Ph.Ds, identifies the critical issues and discusses the remedial steps in detail. We
recommend the following to improve the quality and quantity of Ph.D students in the
country.
1. Launch a national publicity campaign to attract the best young minds for careers
in teaching at all levels, and also academic research - One of the casualties of the
expanding market economy has been the devaluation of the academic profession as a
whole, and this is now seriously affecting the desirability of this profession. Specific
measures for addressing this problem include:-
- Enhancing the prestige, social-standing and remuneration of people in the
academic profession
- Systematic and targeted initiatives to unleash the potential of gifted students
outside the urban population centres
- Utilisation of current technology to provide greater access to quality learning at all
levels, and bridging the language gap
- Increased coverage in the media of different facets of teaching, research and
academic achievements, both nationally and internationally
2. Initiate major academic reforms in universities -Throughout the world, universities
are the natural home for the interface between teaching and research. But this is far from
reality in the vast majority of Indian universities. In fact, the overall current situation in
Indian universities is dismal largely due to the lack of quality infrastructure and the
inability to recruit good young faculty and gifted students. Some concrete interventions
for improving the situation include:-
- Urgent Regulatory reforms in Higher Education, reducing regulation while
improving governance; the details have been articulated by NKC in its earlier
recommendations on Higher Education
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Greater autonomy for departments within universities to introduce new relevant
courses, along with encouragement and rewards for innovation in teaching and
research
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Identifying and supporting university departments as Centres of Excellence
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Greater flexibility and increased funding for university departments to recruit and
retain good faculty from across the world
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Periodic peer reviews of departments in the universities
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Encouraging recruitment of capable and talented younger faculty
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