Key Thrust on Relevance required in Research in Indian Universities: Say Educationists

In era of disruptive technologies, A proposal has been mooted to apply disruptive interventions in realms of higher education to spot Albert Einsteins among millennials to confer doctorate degrees to them for innovations and researches rather than pumping huge resources for academic researches mainly aimed at career enhancements.

Indian Universities should now onward pay a much greater attention to Quality and Relevance of Doctorate degrees, and not just the numbers, to empower India with the knowledge and technology power to achieve both global esteem and national development goals- eminent educationist Professor PB Sharma, President AIU said while addressing the World Doctorate Day on Friday (25^th August, 2017) at Jawaharlal Nehru University, JNU Delhi.

“May be, we in India are at an opportune time in our universities to redefine the meaning of doctoral research in the “age of miracles and disruption”. Make no mistake.

Professor Sharma said that the greatest Scientist of the 20^th Century, Nobel Laureate Albert Einstein was only a patent office clerk when he despatched 5 path breaking research papers that made the year 1905 as the year of miracles that made Einstein the greatest, most relevant  and most popular scientist that the world had ever seen .

He was awarded Doctorate in 1905 by the University of Zurich at the age of 26 and later Nobel Prize in Physics 1921 for his epoch making discovery of the law of the photo-electric effect, that became pivotal to the evolution of quantum theory. 

"Can India and its universities discover such brilliant minds of ingenuity in the country and take courage to award  doctorate degrees based on impact and relevance of their original and path breaking research cutting across the current bureaucratic system of entry to doctoral research that requires passing the entrance examination and clearing  a few mandatory subject examinations as regular students ! ", Prof PB Sharma said.

Prof Sharma said The Quality of research is to be judged, not just by the number of research publications but by the impact that the research could make on solving the formidable problems being faced by the society today and that of tomorrow, as the age of uncertainty and disruption has already set in. The disruptive technologies are already compelling the corporates and enterprises to redefine their strategies to cope up with the threat of destruction of existing factory lines and conventional ways of doing businesses.

Further, the relevance of research has become more important today than ever before as modern scientific research is expensive and the aspirations of the society from research are high. The universities in India are well advised to focus on connecting their research projects and research goals to the needs of the society and industry in their region.

Connect to the vast body of available Knowledge, Connect to the needs and aspirations of Society, Connect to the needs of the local and global Industry, Connect to the National Missions ( Make in India, Skilled India, Digital India, Startup and Standup India, Swachha Bharat, Disease free  Healthy Bharat) and Global Millennium Goals(Combating Climate Change, Wiping out Poverty and Hunger, Water and Food Security, Environmental and Human Heath etc.) and strict compliance to Scientific Ethics and Professional Morals should form the Panchamirat of the research and innovation policy of Indian universities, advised Professor Sharma.

Professor Sharma shared his personal experience of driving the agenda of “Relevance driven Excellence” during his day at IIT Delhi where he was a Professor, Delhi Technological University of which he was the Founder Vice chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi Technological University of which he was the founder Vice Chancellor and Amity University Gurugram where he is the Vice Chancellor currently.

The 25th August celebration marked an important event in the calendar of Universities around the world as we are on the threshold of redefining the meaning and purpose of doctoral research.

According to him, the major trouble in India is that ever since the PhD has been made an essential qualification for teaching positions in colleges and the universities in India, there has been a phenomenal rise in PhD registrations and also the number of PhDs rolled out by the universities.

He says the craze to do PhD is more for career advancements rather than for its value and worth for the society and industry.  This has created a mad rush for acquiring doctorate degrees. Barring a few institutions of higher learning and a few renowned universities, both in the public and in the private sector, the quality of doctoral research remains a major concern said Professor Sharma.

Every year 3-4 lacs doctorate degrees are produced globally of these India’s share is only 6% opined Dr KK Dwivedi, the organising Vice Chancellor in opening remarks.

The Nature index has recently highlighted India’s historic love affair for Chemistry among the disciplines of physical sciences with 50 percent of India’s over all Nature Index output coming from Chemistry alone. 

The point to ponder, however, is that despite such a strong focus on research in Chemistry,India has a poor show on its solution research for combating climate change or atmospheric pollution caused by unabated discharge of untreated sewage, municipal and industrial waste into its rivers and water bodies and in air. The reason is easy to identify as the research lacks local and national relevance,said Prof.Sharma.

The relevance is assured by research for the society and industry through sponsored and funded R&D. It then assures both relevance and quality through peer pressure and timely completion of research as per the defined objectives and goals.

Further, for a long time the research has been centred on PhD level research and undoubtedly a formidable progress has been made by the mankind on the strength of the outcome of the doctoral research and the publications that followed. But in the “Century of Mind”, in which we currently are, the power of mind and the power of connectivity to the vast reservoir of knowledge has opened immense opportunities for the fast track expansion of the research spiral said Prof Sharma who is also the Vice Chancellor of Amity University Gurugram.

He said Today, even a child in a primary school can contribute to both fundamental as well as applied research and show way to translational research that results into high impact innovations. Further, the quest for research which was earlier driven by excellence, attained through unveiling of the mysteries of the universe and expanding the frontiers of knowledge and know how, has now given its grounds to new and emerging sciences and technology, often resulting into disruptive science and disruptive technologies.

“We need to recognise this and create avenues and space for fostering research and creativity at all levels of our education system. The large pool of ingenuity and innovative minds shall then join the research and innovation revolution and empower India with the Knowledge and Innovation power to create India of our dream.” 

World Doctorate Day was also addressed by Dr. Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary DST, Dr M. Jagdish Kumar, Vice Chancellor JNU, Prof BB Kumar, Chairman ICSSR, Dr. Chintamani Mahapatra, Rector JNU and Dr KK Dwivedi, Vice Chancellor of ITM among others.

( PICTURE:  Dr Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary DST , Prof PB  President AIU, Dr KK Dwivedi VC ITM and Swami Anantsesh Das at the World Doctorate Day at JNU on 25th August,2017 )