Saturday, May 17, 2008

Faculty crunch: The view from below (Part 2)


“I applied to the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (Niper) more than a year ago but I’ve not even received an acknowledgement, whereas Singapore National Institute of Chemistry processed my application and offered a position within two months,” said a postdoctoral fellow, who did not wish to be named as he is still keen on joining an Indian institution, as are 12 other researchers in his lab. [...] Mails to the director and dean of Niper bounced back. [...]

The [Indian] researchers [at the Max Planck Institute, Dortmund, contemplating a career in India] are a representative group -— from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) in Pune, Niper, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) in Hyderabad and University of Hyderabad—and not one of them has received a speedy response from any Indian institution.

“IIT Madras asks for a demand draft of Rs300 and a certificate attested by a professor, along with a hard copy by mail at the time of applying,” says a researcher from Calicut University. “This is so impractical today; IIT Mumbai at least waives off the draft for foreign applicants.”

From this Mint story by Seema Singh on the utterly unprofessional conduct by "leaders" (and other people in responsible positions) in some of our premier institutions and laboratories.

I don't know if these horror stories will become a regular series here on this blog; in any case, Part 1 is here.

1 Comments:

  1. Anonymous said...

    Yes, application fees payable by DD is silly. Other requirements such as attestation by a gazetted officer on copies of degree certificates, character certificate from the head of the institute last attended, undertaking on a stamp paper etc., are some of the Macauley's traces still in the system. But have a look at CSIR's application form for scientist position to really get horrified.

    The most dangerous thing about these procedures is not the pain inflicted on the applicant in getting all those done to complete the forms. It is the risk that the administrative clerk could stop/delay the application from being considered on grounds that it is incomplete.