Hop on over to Natasha Mhatre's blog and congratulate her on clinching the deal for her first book. What's even better is that this book is going to be a celebration of biodiversity in IISc's very own, very green campus. While waiting for the book (expected to be out this summer), you can enjoy this sampler (pdf).
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On a totally different note, Tehelka has a piece -- with some unnecessarily breathless prose -- about a new initiative for interdisciplinary research at IISc. This initiative is still very much a work in progress, so some (or even all!) of the details are likely to change. Treat it as a sneak preview ...
6 Comments:
why is it that it is pretty difficult in India to do inter-disc / trans-disc research? is it because the institutes of excellence in different fields are in discrete locations/campus.. like TISS in Bombay... Jamia Millia in Delhi.. IISc in B'lore.. IIT's/IIM's in various places.. do you think a we should have more and more universities which offer courses from science to social science to arts to engineering/tech to medicine..
Well, boys and girls, the main question to ask is what is the purpose of education? In post 1947 era, it was to build up the base of the country and catch up for the time lost during the colonial era. In 1947 the number of engineering and medical colleges could have been counted on fingers. Post 1947 led to a major expansion into traditional education to produce engineers, doctors, dentists, etc.. The IITs and the RECs were set up for this purpose. Now in the era of liberalization, the aim of education is to serve the market. What is good for the market is what is good for the people of India. So here comes inter-disciplinary research which is what the market wants. And, of course, what is good for Tata is good for IISc, and good for India
Baraka: I'm glad you asked, "do you think a we should have more and more universities which offer courses from science to social science to arts to engineering/tech to medicine?". The answer is yes!
Anon: You said, "So here comes inter-disciplinary research which is what the market wants." It's an interesting thought. Can we have some examples or citations to back up that assertion, please?
Do you think part of the reason for the paucity of interdisciplinary research is the wrangling about authorship that researchers might engage in?
Maybe I did not express myself properly: what I meant to say, or what I mean to say now, is that the kind of initiatives that is being envisaged for the new inter-disciplinary centre is what the market wants: e.g., bio-initiatives, energy-initiatives. In other words, what I am trying to say is that there is a departure from traditional education to sectors where there are likely to be more profits.
It's interesting that most, if not all, of the major problems facing humanity (energy, disease, pollution etc.) require interdisciplinary approaches. From that perspective, these have always been what the "market" wanted.
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