The recent revelation in Parliament that almost half of the teaching positions in the premier IITs are lying vacant is shocking. As the country's foremost institutes of technical learning, the sorry state of affairs in the IITs exemplifies the rot pervading the higher education sector in general. It is hardly surprising then that Indian universities consistently fail to make it to the annual top 100 rankings of global varsities. For a country that hopes to reap the fruits of its demographic dividend and boost growth through a knowledge economy, the facts are indeed jarring. Even the old, established IITs face a shortfall of 41% in their sanctioned teaching staff, while IIT Bhubaneshwar doesn't have a single regular teacher.
The official reasons given for the acute shortage are the lack of PhD candidates in engineering and the propensity of engineering graduates to opt for corporate jobs over teaching. There is no denying that higher education in India is hobbled by the absence of a proper research culture. Even at the IITs the emphasis is on churning out degree holders rather than piloting cutting-edge research projects. The shortage in teaching staff further aggravates this problem. The Anil Kakodkar committee report on revamping the IITs has recommended scaling up PhD graduates to 10,000 per year from the current 1,000. This would not only require enhancing research infrastructure to attract talent but also perhaps a revision of pedagogy at the IITs.
As models of educational excellence, the IITs must become founts of industrial innovation. A greater degree of institutional autonomy is imperative for this. Making the IITs financially independent of the government's non-plan budget is a good idea. Instead, autonomous boards ought to be tasked with finalising management structures and recruitment policies, injecting much-needed institutional vibrancy required to match global standards.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Autonomy-and-research-are-the-mantra-to-revamping-the-IITs/articleshow/19310950.cms
The official reasons given for the acute shortage are the lack of PhD candidates in engineering and the propensity of engineering graduates to opt for corporate jobs over teaching. There is no denying that higher education in India is hobbled by the absence of a proper research culture. Even at the IITs the emphasis is on churning out degree holders rather than piloting cutting-edge research projects. The shortage in teaching staff further aggravates this problem. The Anil Kakodkar committee report on revamping the IITs has recommended scaling up PhD graduates to 10,000 per year from the current 1,000. This would not only require enhancing research infrastructure to attract talent but also perhaps a revision of pedagogy at the IITs.
As models of educational excellence, the IITs must become founts of industrial innovation. A greater degree of institutional autonomy is imperative for this. Making the IITs financially independent of the government's non-plan budget is a good idea. Instead, autonomous boards ought to be tasked with finalising management structures and recruitment policies, injecting much-needed institutional vibrancy required to match global standards.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Autonomy-and-research-are-the-mantra-to-revamping-the-IITs/articleshow/19310950.cms
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