Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.
Former National Knowledge Commission (NKC) chief Sam Pitroda has proposed a $500-million dedicated fund to attract select global academic and research pioneers to India as part of the education reforms.
Pitroda has written to the Prime Minister’s Office proposing a Global Professors’ Fund to lure some of the world’s best brains to teach and pursue research in India, The Telegraph has learnt. …
The proposal, if accepted, will be the first time that India will dedicate a part of its national budget specifically to attract handpicked foreign faculty and researchers. It is likely that the select few will be winners of Nobels, Fields Medals, or other teachers and researchers globally renowned for path-breaking work in their subjects. …
The sum of $500 million Pitroda has proposed amounts to around Rs 2,300 crore at current dollar-to-rupee conversion rates. The amount is greater than the Rs 2,005-crore budget for the 15 Indian Institutes of Technology in 2009-10. …
The human resource development ministry, as a part of a “brain gain” policy, … The policy is a key component of wide-ranging higher education reforms the UPA government has proposed in its second term. Many of the reforms, such as creating a single, overarching higher education regulator and expanding higher education by encouraging private and public-private investments, are outcomes of the NKC’s recommendations during the UPA’s first term.
But Pitroda’s proposal for a professors’ fund effectively argues that mere structural changes — such as amending laws or policies — may be inadequate in luring some of the world’s best faculty and researchers.
February 2nd, 2010
Update: See also the reports in Deecan Herald, Zee News and Economic Times.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Indian Express.
Top educational institutes in the country could soon be converted to ‘Innovation Universities’ — complete with huge funds, unbridled academic freedom and linkages with foreign institutes.
Revising its views on the much-discussed 14 Innovation Universities and keeping in mind the long inception period involved in setting them up, the HRD Ministry has decided that it will alongside upgrade worthy institutes to Innovation varsities. The plan is said to have found PMO’s approval.
…In a new “Concept note”, now frozen by the HRD Ministry, it is proposed that India also recognise its national asset in the form of excelling educational institutes and facilitate — with marginal investment — their transition to match that of an “Innovation Varsity”.
Odisha needs to watch out this development and make sure it gets its fair share.
February 2nd, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a PTI report.
… The proposed Corporation will give loans on easy terms which will be repaid by the borrowers only after getting jobs, he told a news conference here.
Sibal, …, said talks are on with the Planning Commission and "we hope the Corporation will be set-up during the 12th Five-Year Plan".
He said approximately 22 crore children go to schools in the country, of whom only an estimated 2.5 per cent pursue higher education in universities.
In developed countries, the percentage of students pursuing higher education stands at 40 per cent, he said.
I think this is a very good idea. This will enable more students to pursue higher education and pay for it; It will enable government colleges to be able to charge for reasonable tuition that can be used towards improving the college infrastructure (note: The infrastructure in most government colleges is in shambles, yet they don’t dare to increase the normal tuition; the only thing they do to raise some resources is to start some self-financed courses); it will enable the establishment of more private colleges, and in general it will improve the quality and quantity of higher education opportunities.
While in the past there has been concern about repayment of such loans, with the creation and usage of unique ID for everyone in India, the loans taken can be made part of everyone’s record and its repayment can be easily tracked.
The government can also use these loans and their repayment as a tool to achieve its goal. For example, it can have a policy of (partially) waiving the loans for people who teach for 5 years and thus encourage more people to go into teaching.
For the kind of scheme that is needed for India, it will help to look at the scheme used in Australia. That kind of a scheme adapted to the Indian context will work well for India.
February 1st, 2010
I was discussing with several people associated with NISER Bhubaneswar. I was told that the NISERs and IISER are having difficulty finding good faculty in mathematics, especially in pure mathematics. (On the other hand they can find very good people in Physics, Chemistry and Biology.) I did a quick survey of the IISERs and NISER and indeed they have much more faculty in Physics, Chemistry and Biology than in Mathematics. Following is a rough count made on Jan 30, 2010.
| |
Physics
|
Chemistry |
Mathematics |
Biology |
Others |
Total |
| IISER Kolkata |
20 |
19 |
3 |
7 |
7 |
56 |
|
IISER Pune
(some have joint appointments)
|
11.5
(includes 3 joint)
|
14 |
7
(includes 2 joint)
|
13.5
(includes 3 joint)
|
0 |
46 |
|
NISER, Bhubaneswar
(permanent + visiting)
|
12 (7 + 5) |
15 (10 +5) |
9 (5 +4) |
15 (7+8) |
4 (0+4) |
55 |
|
IISER, Mohali
(permanent + visiting)
|
8 + 2 |
9.5 |
4 + 1 |
8.5 |
0+1 |
34 |
|
IISER, Bhopal
(Current + to join in June 2010)
|
6 + 1 (includes 1 visiting) |
13+1 |
4 (includes 1 visiting) |
5+2 |
2 (includes 1 visiting) |
34 |
|
IISER, Thiruvantapuram
(Current + to join in June 2010)
|
4+5 |
5 |
2 |
2+1 |
|
19 |
As evident from the above, all of the above institutes are struggling in hiring faculty in Mathematics. Also, while the young faculty in the other fields (Physics, Chemistry and Biology) mostly have post-doc experiences, most of the younger Math faculty do not have that experience.
One of the reasons behind the shortage of Math Ph.ds is that most people who love Mathematics in high school go on to pursue engineering and perhaps there is a mistaken impression that the career prospects in mathematics is not good. Thus there is a big need for institutions like
The Institute of Mathematics and applications, Bhubaneswar
which is making great efforts to popularize Math among youngsters.
I hope some of the people who loved Math in high school, and now are in other (say IT) jobs would consider pursuing Math. Some of the top places to pursue Ph.D in Mathematics in India are:
India could also consider hiring foreigners. At least in the USA many Math Ph.Ds from top schools do not get a tenure track faculty position and end up teaching in community colleges. Some of them may jump at an opportunity to be a faculty in IISERs, NISER and other institutions.
January 30th, 2010
Following are excerpts from a report in Times of India.
In its revised concept note on the setting up of 14 Innovation Universities, the HRD ministry has proposed two types of reservation policy for these institutions, some of which will be directly funded by the government while a few will be in the PPP mode.
Within PPP, it has been proposed that world class universities from abroad might also be invited to set up similar such institutes here. The government will be a partner in the establishment and research programme while the cost of teaching will be funded by the promoter university.
The Innovation Universities fully-funded by the government will follow the existing reservation policy in admission for SCs/STs/OBCs. The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, will be applicable in their case.
However, in case of Innovation Universities in PPP mode, the HRD note says affirmative action cannot be wished away. Therefore, it has been suggested to weight the test scores with a measure for the socio-economic background of the candidates. …
There has also been a slight modification about auditing of accounts. While the money spent by a university or faculty on research or teaching will be kept out of the purview of Comptroller and Auditor General, the expenditure on administration or non-academic areas will be audited by CAG.
Two modes of establishment of Innovation Universities have also been decided. While those fully-funded by the government will come up through an Act of Parliament, the ones through PPP will be established through a Memorandum of Understanding. Financial, academic and research credentials of the private promoter will be the main criterion in selecting them to collaborate with the government.
The Innovation Universities will also have the freedom to decide on their own admission policy.
The 14 Innovation Universities will come up in Amritsar, Greater Noida, Jaipur, Patna, Guwahati, Kolkata, Bhopal, Kochi, Gandhinagar, Coimbatore, Mysore, Pune, Vishakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar.
January 30th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in The Australian.
India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, is committing up to 10 billion rupees ($A240 million) to set up a world-class university in either Mumbai or Delhi modelled on top US universities.
… During his January 8 acceptance speech in Mumbai for the Dean’s Medal from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, Ambani said RIL would invest 5 billion rupees ($A120 million) initially in the Reliance Foundation to set up the new university, with plans to increase its commitment to 10 billion rupees.
He said the multi-disciplinary university would promote education and research across all areas, from science and technology to liberal arts. It would be international in scale, employ best practices and would seek to forge partnerships with highly regarded universities from around the world.
… Ambani’s A$240 million commitment via the Reliance Foundation is likely to be just the starting point for his university project. Ambani’s great advantage is the Reliance track record in handling large projects. The company prides itself on meticulous planning, delivering on time and “flawless execution on a large format.”
January 25th, 2010
Following is an excerpt in a report in Financial Express.
The Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) has announced its plans to establish the country’s ‘first’ university exclusively devoted to urbanisation and settlement issues. IIHS is founded by a group of leading entrepreneurs, intellectuals and professionals including Nandan Nilekani, Shirish Patel, Rakesh Mohan, Keshub Mahindra, Deepak Parekh, Deepak Satwalekar and Jamshyd Godrej. The mother campus of the privately-funded university is likely to be set up in Bangalore.
While Karnataka is a pioneer in establishing the first law university that brought respectability to Law education in India, I wonder if making an urbanization university is going too far in the direction of specialized universities.
January 25th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.
IIT-Kharagpur plans to start by setting up a centre of excellence on Energy Science and Engineering to train students in research and development on various energy verticals like bio-energy, solar energy, nuclear, as well as hydel and thermal energy. …
The institute is also introducing new engineering programme on design and manufacturing where it aims to create globally competent engineering products. It will start School of Entrepreneurship soon where it will offer dual degree in BTech and entrepreneurship programmes. Students will be selected through joint entrance examination (JEE).
“The Innovation Centre will be funded by one of our alumnus, S K Bhattacharya. Each student of School of Entrepreneurship will be attached to an innovation centre. Each student will get a faculty and a successful alumnus entrepreneur to assist him or her. Our aim is to have around 30 per cent of our total student to be PhDs and researchers by 2015, compared to 15 per cent right now,” says Acharya.
An innovation centre is a new concept through which IIT-Kharagpur intends to encourage research and innovation. “We will have support from international institutions and industries to draw on their expertise and develop products of global use. So, for instance, we are collaborating with Warwick Manufacturing Group, Georgia Institute of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, among others,” adds Acharya.
Among international collaborations, IIT-Kharagpur is looking at specific areas of collaboration with National University of Singapore for water policies and issues. Also, the institute has signed an agreement with University of California, San Diego, for a 350-700 bed medical college. The collaboration is both for part-financing the project as well as an academic collaboration.
January 11th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a PTI report on this.
Sibal said the government wants to set up 14 innovation universities on various themes and these institutions will earn revenue from various areas, including research.
Brown, however, differed from Sibal on the proposed economic model for the Innovation Universities and said that major funding will have to come from tuition fee.
"This is not going to work. In our university, 50 percent of revenue comes from tuition fee despite the university having a billion dollar of Endowment fund. The universities here will have to depend on tuition fee," he said.
Sibal retorted back, saying that the investment involved in setting a university in India will be less than the cost in the US.
He said institutes should not be charge exorbitantly on students. They can generate revenue from other sources.
The government will set up a Higher Education Finance Corporation to provide funding to poor students for study. The students can pay back the money over a period of time, he said. The HRD Ministry has prepared a bill to set up the corporation.
The loans will be made available for students pursuing professional courses, he said.
I am a bit confused about the innovation universities being on various themes. I thought they were supposed to be multi-dsiciplinary universities aiming to become like Oxford, Cambridge and Berkely.
January 10th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.
The Reliance Group is setting up a ‘world-class’ university as it seeks to promote education and research in sectors ranging from liberal arts to technology .
… India’s largest business conglomerate has started the process of identifying land for the proposed university , according to persons familiar with the development.
The university, modelled on the lines of American universities such as The University of Pennsylvania, will tie up with foreign universities. “It will be international in scale and in best practices, but with an Indian soul,” said Mukesh Ambani, chairman, Reliance Group.
Nita Ambani told ET that the proposed university would be located either outside Mumbai or Delhi. “We are looking for sufficient land to set up a world-class university,” she said.
Mr Ambani made this announcement while making the acceptance speech at Mumbai’s Tident Hotel after receiving the Dean’s medal from the University of Pennsylvania’s engineering school. …
The university will initially offer undergraduate courses. It will later offer postgraduate and doctoral courses, Ms Ambani said. India’s big business houses are strengthening their focus on education as it is poised to become a $80-billion opportunity by 2012. Indian spend $50 billion on private education annually, according to a research report by IDFC. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16%, said a CLSA Pacific study.
This is great news for India. I hope things move faster with respect to Vedanta University. Otherwise it will lose its first mover’s advantage. Another thing to note is that some of the people who were/?are? involved in the Vedanta University project also have University of Pennsylvania ties. They are doing a great thing by convincing various billionaires in India to establish universities that aim to be world class.
January 9th, 2010
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Ravenshaw University should start 5 yr integrated programs in Science subjects and take its students through this exam.
January 7th, 2010
Following information about DRDO research boards is from http://www.drdo.org/academic.html.
DRDO has constituted four research boards to nurture and harness talent in academic institutions, universities, R&D centres and industry. The organization provides necessary facilities for promoting basic research and to catalyse cross-fertilization of ideas with R&D agencies in other sectors for expanding and enriching the knowledge base in their respective areas. The boards provide grants-in-aid for collaborative defence-related futuristic frontline research having application in the new world class systems to be developed by DRDO.
The catalytic role played by research boards has helped rapid growth in building capabilities in the area of aeronautical state-of-art systems like light helicopter, and in setting up a centre of excellence in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) at the IISc, Bangalore, which is anticipated to give a boost to the designing of aeronautical systems within the country. Another centre of excellence in aerospace system design and engineering is being set up at IIT, Mumbai. A Centre for Composite Structure Technology is proposed to be set up at the National Aerospace Laboratory, Bangalore. Grants in aid by DRDO have led to setting up of a hypermedia digital library in IIT-Kharagpur, to the development of audio-visual training aids for aircrew, to indoctrination in air sickness and positive pressure breathing at the Institute of Aviation Medicine, Bangalore and to the development of rarefied gas dynamic facility at IIT, Chennai.
The Aeronautics Research and Development Board (AR&DB) has approved projects in the filed of Aeronautics and related areas. The Armament Research Board (ARMREB) has approved projects in the fields of high energy materials, sensors, ballistics and other armament related fields. Under the Naval Research Board (NRB), projects are being pursued in five technology areas. Under Life Sciences Research Board (LSRB) projects have been supported in the areas of biological and bio-medical sciences, psychology, physiology, bio-engineering, specialized high altitude agriculture, food science and technology.
Following informations about DRDO’s Centers of Excellence is from the page http://www.drdo.org/centerofexcellence.html.
The need for establishing CE by DRDO has been projected long back by SA to RM. The outlay for such a centre will be typically expected to be Rs.50 crores over a period of 5 years. DRDO proposes 5 such centres that will include:
- The science and synthesis of HEM (for use as explosives and propellants).
- The science of polymer physics especially polymer Electronics can emergent and for a variety of military semi conductor devices).
- The interaction of microwaves and matter (for stealth).
- Nanotechnology based sensors for NBC detection.
- Nano optoelectronic devices.
Out of these, for item (a), Advanced Centre for Research on High Energy Materials (ACRHEM) has been established with the University of Hyderabad. We have evolved an Memorandum of collaboration (MOC) exclusively for this centre. Parallely, old MOC of DRDO with Bharathiar Unviersity (BU), Coimbatore has been upgraded as a Centre of Excellence called BU-DRDO Centre for Life Sciences. A separate MOC exists exclusively for it. In order to have effective functioning, SOP was proposed and the same has been approved by SA to RM. DRDO can advertise through newspaper or website the intent of setting up of such a CE in the fields of relevance. This step would stimulate other competitive agencies to submit proposals. Funding of academic institution for research whose expected outcome was judged to be of use in extant DRDO R&D projects/programmes. Instrumentality was the sponsored research proposal ‘instigated’ by a DRDO labroratory or vetted by it for direct relevance of research outcome(s).
Universities and institutions in Odisha should propose and pursue DRDO funded Centers of Excellence.
January 7th, 2010
The following excerpts are from the two articles in TOI and indiaedunews.
- India’s top centrally funded technical institutions are facing a severe faculty shortage. There is a shortfall of 222 in IIT Bombay alone.
- The premier Indian Institute of Science (IISc) at Bangalore does not have even half the teachers it needs; the same situation prevails at the three Schools of Planning and Architecture (SPAs).
January 3rd, 2010
Following is from a report in Business Standard.
Ivy League colleges – Yale, Harvard, Princeton and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – have approached the ministry of human resources development to collaborate in the proposed Innovation Universities across the country, official sources said.
These universities are a part of the ministry’s “brain gain” policy to attract talent from all over the world. Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal had last August announced that 14 Innovation Universities will be set up in the country under the 11th Five-year Plan (2007-12).
During his visit to the US in October, Sibal had met senior functionaries of three top universities – Harvard, Yale and MIT – and had discussed the prospects of them setting up Innovation Universities in India in partnership and collaboration with Indian institutions.
Sam Pitroda, the well-known technocrat and the head of the National Knowledge Commission, is learnt to be drafting the details for establishing the Innovation Universities. “Pitroda will soon meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and discuss the matter. An announcement on the details could come up during the Republic Day ceremonies,” said a source close to the development.
The ministry is also looking at public-private partnerships for establishing some of the Innovation Universities. This means that these universities would be autonomous, and outside the purview of the University Grants Commission or the All India Council for Technical Education.
January 3rd, 2010
Following is an excerpt from the PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=56523.
Autonomous Institutions: There are seven existing autonomous institutions under Department of Biotechnology namely National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi; Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad; National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Manesar; National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), New Delhi; Institute of Bioresource and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Imphal; Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar. Recently, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Thiruvananthapuram has been taken over from Government of Kerala. These institutes have generated 382 publications, 24 patents granted/filed, 9 patents in pipeline and 13 technologies were developed.
Establishment of new breed of institutions in critical areas has been one of the major strategies of 11th plan. Cabinet has approved setting up of institutions namely Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine, Bangalore; National Agri-food Biotechnology Institute with bioprocessing plant Cluster in Knowledge city at Mohali; Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI); Regional Centre for Biotechnology Training and Education under the auspices of the UNESCO, Faridabad and Institute of Biomedical Genomics in Kolkata and efforts are being made to establish institutions. In other proposed new institutions, National Institute of Animal Biotechnology, Hyderabad has been approved by EFC.
Regional biotechnology clusters , around the new institutions are being planned to promote innovation and discovery. These are the Translational Health Cluster at Faridabad, the Agrifood Cluster at Mohali and the Innovation Cluster at Bangaloore. Together, it is hoped that these will become the technology and innovation gateways of India.
December 31st, 2009
Following is from a report in Indiaedunews.
Proposed Central varsities in two remote areas of the country – Bihar and Kerala have received a denial from the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry to host new Central universities for their states.
Far-flung Motihari and Kasargod in Bihar and Kerala respectively do not qualify up to the desirable standards for a site to be constructed for such universities as they lack the physical and social infrastructure to proceed.
The ministry is learnt to have asked the two states to come up with an alternative location for the set up.
The Central government clearly opposed the stand of the State governments, academics and development votaries who stood by the decision to host the new varsities in the remote areas of the country, which will boost its economy and help in creation of new and additional infrastructure.
The necessary conditions needed for the set up of a university in both Motihari nad Kasargod area are not feasible due to poor access, connectivity and lack in infrastructure in the form of good schools which are vital to attract quality faculty in the varsity.
While Kasargod, located in the northern part of Kerala suffers serious connectivity issues, Motihari in East Champaran in Bihar is considered a backward region.
The ministry felt that constructing such institutes in these areas will mar the whole criteria of establishment since they would not be able to provide quality education through qualified teachers, as they would not be interested to enter in such areas.
A similar problem has been faced by the Central University at Koraput in Orissa which is facing a serious faculty crunch in terms of quality.
Lack of adequate facilities, along with absence of good schools and hospitals are proving to be deterrents for the faculty who are unwilling to shift over to such areas.
In regards to Koraput, Orissa government needs to take some proactive steps quickly; before the problem becomes worse. Earlier we suggested the following.
- Start a daytime train between Bhubaneswar and Koraput. The distance between them is 679 kms. (Note that Koraput has daily overnight trains to Bhubaneswar and Howrah and a new daily train to Rourkela has been announced in this year’s budget.)
- Start an intercity between Visakhapatnam and Jeypore via Koraput. (Distance is 258 kms.)
- Open a knowledge park of 200 acres near the central university. This knowledge park should contain an STP, and other amenities. the state should invite trustees of some of the top private engineering colleges to establish educational institutions such as engineering colleges in this knowledge park.
In addition, the state should vigorously pursue the proposed airport in Jeypore.
December 31st, 2009
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