India produces around 1,000 basic science PhDs per year but there is a need for 10 times the present number to maintain the present growth rate, said a report prepared jointly by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), UK, and Chemical Research Society of India in Pune at the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL).
Speaking on the development RSC CEO Robert Parker said, “While in the UK we face budgetary restraint in higher education, in India there have been significant allocations for education and research. So a partnership at this stage is to benefit both.”
The other issue that is decreasing the research and development work is the teaching assignments that take up a high percentage of staff time because of faculty shortage following difficulties in the appointments of new faculty, thus leaving academic staff very little time for research.
IISER, Pune, director N K Ganesh said, “In the report, while we have studied the problems in both countries, issues specific to the Indian context have been closely looked at and analysed as we cannot extrapolate the UK system in the Indian context. The problem that we have at hand is how to make sure the research done in labs reaches the markets. As both industry and academia in India have grown in isolation, bringing them together needs massive efforts.”
Parker said in bid to promote research in India, high-end equipment will be provided through RSC to NCL and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune. Career development workshops for postgraduate students and workshops on drug discovery programmes, funded by RSC and the Indian pharmaceutical industry, will be held at IISER early next year.
Parker said in bid to promote research in India, high-end equipment will be provided through RSC to NCL and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune. Career development workshops for postgraduate students and workshops on drug discovery programmes, funded by RSC and the Indian pharmaceutical industry, will be held at IISER early next year.
“After completion of the first phase of the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) in March 2011, next phase was announced earlier by both the governments. The next phase will be funded by Rs 357 millions per year from both the governments for the next three years,” said NCL, Pune, director Sourav Pal.
[Source: Indian Express]
