Young Investigators Retreat

As a colleague from Delhi University put it succinctly: It was a paid holiday on duty leave.

The retreat collected all those investigators who have recently (within 1 or 2 years) joined either institutes or Universities. It also collected post-docs who are desirous of making a move back to India. I was sort of misfit because technically speaking I have not recently joined (it has been now 5 years) the University. So I have no clue why I was invited. But hey, it was a paid holiday on duty leave.

It was fun because we got to meet each other. In these hectic times one does not even know who has joined the adjoining institute. And meeting was crucial because now we know at least whom to rope in as examiners for our student's thesis.

It was not fun because a) many of the sessions turned out to be cribbing sessions b) none of the panelists were from Universities.

I will expand the point b here for nothing can be done about point a.

The Universities and Institutes operate on different budgets in India. The Institutes have humongous budgets, many times their faculty can survive without writing grants, and the focus is only research. The Universities operate on smaller budget, the teachers are paid less than their counterparts in the Institute, grants are essential to run our research programs, and the focus is equally on research and teaching.

Does it mean Universities are bad? I do not think so. I, for one, am very happy that I am at an University. I also happen to think that Universities are absolutely essential because it is the Universities who churn out students for the Institutes and other places. The Universities require good faculty- faculty who are good in both research and teaching. Unfortunately, none of the post-docs I met at the retreat were even considering the Universities as a career option. They were so focused on joining one or other Institutes. Oh, yes, there are IISERS but it is very important to realize that this is an institute on the lines of IITs and not an University with its diverse student population.

Most of the problems faced by the Universities are due to the administrators who singularly lack vision. As most of our VCs are political nominees they have no stake in improving the situation. So a combination of factors has become responsible for the lack of good faculties in our Universities.

But we need to reverse the situation. I think the Universities have to become pro-active in recruiting good faculties because otherwise the situation is going to deteriorate. It is pointless to blame the Institutes for taking away the good faculties and students.

That said I do wish there were panelists who were from Universities. There are plenty of good teachers as well as good researchers in the Universities. These people have done tremendously well in spite of all the obstacles. They could have provided the perspective from the University point of view. Just so that the new post-docs do not think that the world begins and ends with the Institutes but realize that there is whole world out there that can provide them with a wonderful career opportunity.

Starting tomorrow I am off to another meeting. Ugh.