Murthy calls for autonomy,focus on research

The golden jubilee celebrations of the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur kicked off with an inaugural address by Infosys...

The golden jubilee celebrations of the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur kicked off with an inaugural address by Infosys Chief Mentor and alumunus N R Narayana Murthy who made a case for the granting of academic and financial autonomy to help the pioneer institutes of the country advance in education and research. Murthy,the chief guest at the function,also emphasised the need for stepping up the quality of research and improving the payscales of faculty members.

Pointing out that the IITs were nowhere near the quality standards achieved in research by the top 10 US colleges,he said,We have to figure out the reasons and eradicate the problems at the earliest,so that IIT-K can be ranked amongst the top 10 engineering colleges of the world by 2010.

Murthy said it was imperative that the Indian Government refrain from interfering in the administrative decisions of the institutes. The IIT Board should be given more freedom,and any decision regarding fee hike or raising of salary of faculty members should be taken by the Board members. If the government wants to help bright students from a financially disadvantaged background,they can be given a scholarship but the fee structure should be decided by IIT Board.

Murthy also flagged the poor salary structure of faculty members as an area of concern that ultimately hampered research. When compared to foreign countries,the salary structure of IIT faculty is extremely low,and as a result the faculty members are often attracted to other jobs, he said. Citing the across-the-board 25 to 30 per cent shortage of faculty being faced by higher educational institutions,he spoke of the urgent need to attract young talent to research.

M Anandakrishnan,Chairman,Board of Governors,IIT,said that there was a misconception that the majority of IITians preferred to work abroad. Only 15 per cent of the IIT pass outs have been employed in foreign countries. A majority of 85 per cent of IIT students are working within the country, he added.

Maximum PhDs from IIT Kharagpur

Kharagpur: With the awarding of 228 PhDs at its 55th convocation,IIT Kharagpur set the record for the most PhDs awarded by any IIT so far and announced its intention to sharpen its focus on research. We have decided to increase the thrust on research activities. From 167 students last year we have been able to churn out 228 PhDs. And we are particularly proud of the fact that almost 90 per cent of them have done their PhDs in engineering, said Damodar Acharya,Director,IIT Kharagpur. Union HRD minister,Kapil Sibal,had recently expressed concern that the country produced a mere 8,000 PhDs annually in comparison with Chinas 30,000.