- What will be your primary focus once you take up the charge as Vice-Chairman?
There are two important things on my list, one, improving the quality of education which can happen once we identify teachers who will be able to empower and guide students at the undergraduate level. A teacher’s role should be of a facilitator and not just giving information. As today’s generation is well versed in collecting information from various sources, a teacher’s duty should be to make these content relevant to the students. They should guide them according to their interest and skills. Even teachers should use technology to create e-modules from where students can get valuable notes. Also, courses at under-graduate level need to be defined and designed properly. Students at that age need to be hand-held and their creativity needs to be encouraged. So, the syllabus should be enriching and giving a path to post-graduation.
Secondly, my focus will be to strengthen the research culture in higher educational institutions.
- What is your perception on research work done in colleges of our country? Do Indian higher educational institutions lack productive research work?
Yes, we do lack in producing quality research papers, but it doesn’t mean we make it compulsory for all. Our education system mandates teachers and students to participate in research work. Whereas, research should be done only by those who are interested in it.
To bring more number of research papers from educational institutes, the primary objective of generating quality research is defeated, as most of the candidates focus on completing the set criteria. For example, professors need to have at least two published research papers under their names. College professors are already burdened with numerous other work apart from regular lectures. In the race to bring out the number of research and proving themselves to be competent, they fail to concentrate on the quality of research and its purpose. Moreover, undergraduate students are also expected to have dissertations. In fact, they should be enlightened about research papers and if they have an interest, they can pursue it in their higher education.
- Many educational institutes overseas have different faculties for teaching and research, whereas, in India, professors are expected to manage both. Will you try to bring any changes in this regard?
As I said earlier, college professors should only care about imparting quality education. Research should be mandated for professors in postgraduate colleges and universities as they get proper equipment to perform research work, unlike college professors. They are given different tasks, from attending several conferences to conducting classes and also have published research papers under their names.
The main problem is that we do not have an adequate mechanism to evaluate the professors. If a certain teacher is excellent in teaching but has not done research, he should be strictly evaluated on the basis of his/her teaching performance.
- Provision of National Eligibility Test/State Eligibility Test has changed several times, age limit criteria for JRF has increased by two years. However, many candidates are not satisfied by it. Do you think NET/SET should be mandatory criteria for appointment of assistant professors or associate professors has created confusion?
NET/SET gives equal platform for all, which segregates the deserving candidates from the sea of applications dropping in regularly. Therefore, it should be there. However, there should be no age limit for appearing in NET/SET, as well becoming an associate professor in a college. For example, there must be many who after retirement, may want to pursue teaching, such candidates should be appointed as their experience and knowledge will help students gain better quality education. Moreover, since education is a continuous process, age cannot restrict it.
- Many educational institutions are seen to collaborate with industries for providing skill-based training to their students, to accomplish Make in India or producing entrepreneurs. Are the institutes falling back on education?
Industrial ties-up are good to incorporate their needs in practical education. Unfortunately, educational institutions are becoming human resources for industries only. Definitely, students should be given exposure of industrial experience and syllabus should be modified according to the current needs. But students should also be given exposure to research, analysis, social relevance as part of education.
