The quality of research in universities in the country has come down over the years and there’s a need for effective leadership and political will to breathe new life into them, observed Sushanta Dattagupta, Vice-Chancellor, Vishwa Bharathi University.
Delivering the foundation lecture at the National Geophysical Research Institute here on Thursday, he said, “there is a big dichotomy in India.
When our founders decided to make national institutes after independence to boost research in science, our universities suffered.”
Drawing a comparison with foreign countries, he pointed out that in the US and other countries, universities are very much involved in research.
“Here, as universities are not much into it, even the quality of students who join science institutions is poor. Invariably, if universities suffer, research institutes will suffer,” he remarked.
The Vice-Chancellor also stressed the need to knowledge to villages. “We need science to help farmers. We can start addressing the gap by teaching our neighbours. Some of the children from our villages know a lot of things about science, by just studying the environment,” he said.
He also expressed his displeasure at the way IITs are functioning. “There is a general lacuna in the IITs - the absence of liberal education.
Many IIT engineers obtain a management degree, and end up working in managerial positions after their course. Most successful engineers are locally produced,” he said.