tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post8390827099706151696..comments2024-03-20T13:10:11.477+05:30Comments on nanopolitan: Jayant Haritsa on enhancing research capabilities in our premier institutionsAbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790560045313883673noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-17243638312145127892009-12-22T01:30:38.144+05:302009-12-22T01:30:38.144+05:30Completely agree with all points. Although I feel ...Completely agree with all points. Although I feel that implementing all of them at the same time, will be difficult. Perhaps implement them slowly over a period of time...<br />But yes, otherwise a very sensible and good report.Varunnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-52034938018141509602009-01-11T10:26:00.000+05:302009-01-11T10:26:00.000+05:30Assuming Jayant is referring to engineering resear...Assuming Jayant is referring to engineering research - success, even if defined by publications or quality of Ph.D. thesis, depends on a whole host of favorable environment. In this category,<BR/>apart from the often quoted "infrastructure" one has to taken into account that a lot of "good" engineering research in US are due to close academic-industry r&d and academy-defense r&d based projects<BR/>that place a lot of emphasis on "experimental" research which can be translated into products even if futuristic. This makes a big difference since Indian academic R&D is either too theoretical or too computational and generally single PI oriented which excludes a whole gamut of "good" research that is possible in US. I would also venture out to say that may also be a problem with science research in India.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-50966617814565601992009-01-07T06:12:00.000+05:302009-01-07T06:12:00.000+05:30One serious lacuna in the argument that I see is t...One serious lacuna in the argument that I see is this: on the one hand Haritsa says that there is a lot of indifference, etc., and on the other hand he speaks of sugar-coated assessments. So what exactly is going on here?Ananthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12974808252913561726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-87947912098980773862009-01-06T01:51:00.000+05:302009-01-06T01:51:00.000+05:30I agree with Prof. Jayant's practical comments. I ...I agree with Prof. Jayant's practical comments. I have seen some faculty in the institute who came from the US with 60 -100 publications and now have spent atleast 10 years and have published only a handful. I sometimes feel that these folks come to India with an idea of semi retiring and let their US publications do the talking. They treat the research students in their groups to do stuff the way a student in the US would but they would not guide the students the way we expect. I have been in the institute for a while and have seen some close examples of my friends who were really brilliant but could only come up with a mediocore Ph.D thesis and i strongly believe that his US returned, 100 publications guy did not bother to provide him the needed guidance as a research advisor.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-68362867336972899862009-01-03T18:16:00.000+05:302009-01-03T18:16:00.000+05:30well said jayant. agree with all of his points.well said jayant. agree with all of his points.rahul thathoohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07042182171141233414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-29424637800435957682009-01-02T23:54:00.000+05:302009-01-02T23:54:00.000+05:30The future of IITs indeed looks bleak even in the ...The future of IITs indeed looks bleak even in the short-term. Given the casual manner of the proposed expansion and the lack of incentives for highly qualified people to join as faculty - along with the increased mobility (as opposed to 70s) and global demand for talent - I just can't fathom how IITs are going to catch up with the rest of the world. All the talk of maintaining stardards will be mere hogwash. IITs will be finished in 5 years time - will be replaced by 'local research' centres - organizing copious third-rate conferences and symposia of 'local relevance' - in the end, achieving nothing except making the local organizers richer. Meanwhile, kids of our elite - right from PM down to petty bureaucrats - will continue to flock to US,UK,Canada,Australia etc. for 'phoren' education. BTW, that's the pakistan way of higher education - that we too are soon heading to. Great!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-59356500433076727332009-01-02T20:32:00.000+05:302009-01-02T20:32:00.000+05:30All this angst about the future of IITs is misplac...All this angst about the future of IITs is misplaced. In a society where per-capita availability of energy is rolling steadily downhill, technology simply cannot command any broad support base. IITs, as envisaged in the 50s, are going to be phased out and abandoned within 20--30 years, replaced by mediocre degree mills. However, it is also very unclear why Indian youth would covet an engineering degree 30 years from now. (Medicine, law, peace and conflict studies, and management should be in much more demand.) India's problems do not include lack of engineering know-how. All the engineering solutions that can improve Indians' quality of life are already in the public domain. Civilized living isn't really rocket science---many other societies have proved that already.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-32438445213449388732009-01-02T04:26:00.000+05:302009-01-02T04:26:00.000+05:30Great points, all of them, especially the ones abo...Great points, all of them, especially the ones about sugar-coating assessments and about first and foremost doing first-class research even if it's not "local".Wavefunctionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14993805391653267639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-81603802952882841672008-12-31T22:41:00.000+05:302008-12-31T22:41:00.000+05:30>That is, the local relevance should be the ici...>That is, the local relevance should be the icing on the >cake, and not a moralistic justification for a moldy cake. Our first duty is to put India on a high pedestal in >world research<BR/><BR/>Well I agree with Jayant's statement and is somewhat opposite to what Nobelist Dr. A.Sen recommends in his talk at the conference.<BR/><BR/>Institutes should be set up with clearly separate missions...so there should IITs/IISc for world-class research and there should *good* institutes for social/local/national missions<BR/>The lack of instis in the second category puts burden on the first category to solve all the ills and problems of the society.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-17413976927834705652008-12-31T22:29:00.000+05:302008-12-31T22:29:00.000+05:30Lack of technical staff problem, that the above co...Lack of technical staff problem, that the above commenter mentions, is probably the problem that arises when scientific/technical/vocational education at lower levels of educational hierarchy is neglectedAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-84143104328463255182008-12-31T00:27:00.000+05:302008-12-31T00:27:00.000+05:30Well said.Lack of skilled technicians is another p...Well said.<BR/><BR/>Lack of skilled technicians is another problem. A lot of faculty time is spent in firefighting and getting equipments working after some problem. In grad school, there were technical staff to do this.<BR/><BR/>Talking about bureaucracy: I have initiated the process of ordering two PCs from Dell India in August 2008. Still waiting for the PCs.<BR/><BR/>At least in our institute, we pay lip service to research. A faculty with 60 international publications is still an assistant prof.Nikethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882163077938014472noreply@blogger.com