pankajlathar
March 30th, 2007, 03:44 PM
Research takes a back seat
Dr Ramesh Chander,Registrar,CDL University SIRSA-Haryana
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070327/edu1.jpg
In recent times, research and academic interactions have taken a beating in universities. Academics are constraint to participate in these activities for austerity that further undermine quality teaching and research. It is quite strange to see that universities wait to seek guise of jubilee celebrations to promote these activities, which otherwise are an integral part of campus life.
The status of present-day campus research leaves much to be desired. The research quotient of universities is abysmally very low. Ingenious ways to compile required research inputs for promotion under career advancement schemes speak volumes of its content and quality.
Policy research and studies to outline priorities and impact analysis of developmental initiatives are conspicuously absent from the campuses. Political elite and bureaucrats discharge this responsibility, which needs to be supplemented by credible research from academia. Collaborative research in public private partnership should be promoted to improvise in this regard
Research on campuses is constrained by availability of a dedicated and committed faculty. Thanks to consumerism, genres of academic excellence either have superannuated or became indifferent to growing drift of intelligentsia to private enterprise. The teacher selection process is equally responsible for gradual drift in research. Merit, academic attainment and professional competence are to be exclusive parameters of selections in universities. Instead of considering localised and parochial considerations, efforts should be made to promote pluralism, cross-culturism to avoid inbreeding on the campuses.
An inert teacher-taught ambience for obvious reasons tends to eclipse the academics and research. Per se apathy needs immediate attention to break this inertia for harmonious and interactive teaching and learning. It requires re-orientation of course curricula to suit industry requirement and employability. Innovative courses and delivery mechanism need to be conceptualised to promote earning while learning.
It is high time to incubate a culture of academic excellence in universities. For this, multiple initiatives should be integrated for synergic effects to harness and commercialize knowledge for social good. Under the circumstances, a coordinated effort is required to identify core competencies and niche areas for survival and growth of centers of higher learning.
The focus invariably is to reflect truly universal character of universities for students’ intake, curriculum designing and faculty development. The functional autonomy of yesteryears should be restored to enable academia in a manner that the passout students be a hallmark of its brand academics like Oxford and Harvard universities.
The institutes of higher learning lack initiatives for keeping pace with time for library infrastructure to build and maintain sound knowledge base. Due attention to enrich libraries is essentially called for. Subscription to online literature and interconnectivity of libraries on delnet pattern can be of great help. It requires training to library staff to deliver on high expectation and to reorient reading habits among students.
In a globalised economy, foreign collaboration with institutes of higher learning for the faculty-students exchange and dual degree programs will provide much-needed exposure and confidence. This will even cut short gestation gap in the teaching and learning to build a sound knowledge base to hone core competencies. Today, a larger chunk of resource pie in universities is grabbed by burgeoning non-teaching and non-plan activities. Needed to support and facilitate academics, these activities have grown inexplicably to eclipse productivity. A trimming and restructuring exercise in this regard is the need of the hour to avail larger resource base for academia and research.
Dr Ramesh Chander,Registrar,CDL University SIRSA-Haryana
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070327/edu1.jpg
In recent times, research and academic interactions have taken a beating in universities. Academics are constraint to participate in these activities for austerity that further undermine quality teaching and research. It is quite strange to see that universities wait to seek guise of jubilee celebrations to promote these activities, which otherwise are an integral part of campus life.
The status of present-day campus research leaves much to be desired. The research quotient of universities is abysmally very low. Ingenious ways to compile required research inputs for promotion under career advancement schemes speak volumes of its content and quality.
Policy research and studies to outline priorities and impact analysis of developmental initiatives are conspicuously absent from the campuses. Political elite and bureaucrats discharge this responsibility, which needs to be supplemented by credible research from academia. Collaborative research in public private partnership should be promoted to improvise in this regard
Research on campuses is constrained by availability of a dedicated and committed faculty. Thanks to consumerism, genres of academic excellence either have superannuated or became indifferent to growing drift of intelligentsia to private enterprise. The teacher selection process is equally responsible for gradual drift in research. Merit, academic attainment and professional competence are to be exclusive parameters of selections in universities. Instead of considering localised and parochial considerations, efforts should be made to promote pluralism, cross-culturism to avoid inbreeding on the campuses.
An inert teacher-taught ambience for obvious reasons tends to eclipse the academics and research. Per se apathy needs immediate attention to break this inertia for harmonious and interactive teaching and learning. It requires re-orientation of course curricula to suit industry requirement and employability. Innovative courses and delivery mechanism need to be conceptualised to promote earning while learning.
It is high time to incubate a culture of academic excellence in universities. For this, multiple initiatives should be integrated for synergic effects to harness and commercialize knowledge for social good. Under the circumstances, a coordinated effort is required to identify core competencies and niche areas for survival and growth of centers of higher learning.
The focus invariably is to reflect truly universal character of universities for students’ intake, curriculum designing and faculty development. The functional autonomy of yesteryears should be restored to enable academia in a manner that the passout students be a hallmark of its brand academics like Oxford and Harvard universities.
The institutes of higher learning lack initiatives for keeping pace with time for library infrastructure to build and maintain sound knowledge base. Due attention to enrich libraries is essentially called for. Subscription to online literature and interconnectivity of libraries on delnet pattern can be of great help. It requires training to library staff to deliver on high expectation and to reorient reading habits among students.
In a globalised economy, foreign collaboration with institutes of higher learning for the faculty-students exchange and dual degree programs will provide much-needed exposure and confidence. This will even cut short gestation gap in the teaching and learning to build a sound knowledge base to hone core competencies. Today, a larger chunk of resource pie in universities is grabbed by burgeoning non-teaching and non-plan activities. Needed to support and facilitate academics, these activities have grown inexplicably to eclipse productivity. A trimming and restructuring exercise in this regard is the need of the hour to avail larger resource base for academia and research.