the IIMs and IITs did not have world-class faculty, Human Resource
Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday said the government
had "complete trust in the creative potential" of the teaching staff
in these premier institutes.
"I want to place on record complete trust in creative potential of
faculty of IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) and IIMs (Indian
Institutes of Management). Almost 25 percent IIT faculty comprises
students of IITs. Surely, if there are world-class students, there
must be world-class faculty," Sibal told mediapersons here.
He said the reality was that IITs had "not gained critical mass to
change global scientific discourse" but the problem did not relate to
their faculty.
He said India spent less than a third of the money the US did on
research and that was "not the fault of (IIT) faculty".
Citing some instances of world-class research by IIT professors, Sibal
said the inability was of the system to create that critical mass.
Sibal denied that he was opposing or differing with the views of
Ramesh, which has stirred a controversy in the academic community over
the last three days.
"The minister (Ramesh) is entitled to his opinion. (But) it was
necessary for the government to clear the record. The government is
entitled to state its position too," Sibal said.
Sibal admitted that he had received calls from IIT faculty complaining
about Ramesh's remarks.
Ramesh had, on the sidelines of a function Monday, said there was
hardly any worthwhile research done at IITs or IIMs and had blamed the
faculty for the poor quality of work being done by these institutions.
"There is hardly any worthwhile research from our IITs. The faculty in
the IIT is not world class. It is the students in IITs who are world
class. So the IITs and IIMs are excellent because of the quality of
students not because of quality of research or faculty," Ramesh, who
is an alumnus of IIT-Mumbai from where he did his Bachelor of
Technology in Mechanical Engineering in 1975, had said.
According to Sibal, historically IITs were not meant for research but
the government had made a shift in their system for the past few years
as the country needs "more M Techs and doctors".
Pointing to the growth of publications in scientific citation index
journals from IITs, he said that the number had risen significantly
over the past few years.
He said the government was working towards new initiatives and the
country's research institutions would have gained global eminence in
the next seven-10 years.
Sibal's remarks came a day after Water Resources and Minority Affairs
Minister Salman Khurshid defended Ramesh over his remarks, saying the
academic atmosphere in which free exchanges take place is different
from formal official announcements that are made by ministers. IANS
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment