Doctoral dilemmas

Even with an allocation of over 50 crore in the Union budget for education, and a proposal to connect 1,500 institutes of higher learning, several grants for research, there are few takers for PhD in our country. Youth Inc finds out why

This year, the allocation for education in the Union Budget has been a whopping Rs.52,057 crore. There is also a proposal for a knowledge network, under which 1,500 institutes of higher learning and research across India would be connected; and special grants will be offered to recognise excellence in universities and academic institutions. Of course these are tall promises for education in India, especially. Why then, is the number of people opting for doctoral degrees (PhDs) diminishing every year?

Running a bit behind
Usually, PhD is the most advanced academic degree offered by any university across the globe. The main focus is to generate new knowledge by taking up a problem for any topic, framing a main question about that problem and providing some solutions and/ or explanations for the questions. Of course, easier said than done. The process also involves statistical methods and studies, and a whole lot of field research that goes into deriving the questions and looking for answers. The candidate then has to submit a detailed project report (called thesis), often a body of original academic research, which is worthy of publication in a peer-refereed context. Thereafter, the candidate must defend this work before a panel of expert examiners appointed by the university. In India, this process can take four to seven years and often proves a deterrent to even those who are inclined towards research.

According to a study conducted by Anitha Kurup and Jagadish Arora of the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore called Trends in Higher Education: Creation and Analysis of a Database of PhDs, only 0.65 per cent of the total number of students in higher education are enrolled at the PhD level. Published in May 2010, it notes, “India invests only about three to four per cent of its total R & D in academic research. Despite the annual growth in the number of PhDs awarded (an increase of 30.6 per cent from 1990 to 1999…), India still is far behind countries such as US, China and Germany in terms of the number of researchers added to the country’s workforce.”
In 2004, India produced around 5,900 science, technology and engineering PhDs, a figure that has now grown to some 8,900 a year. This is still, much lesser (in fact just a miniscule percentage of) the number of doctoral degrees handed out in China and the US. In the light of the rapid growth of the economy as well as the population, the country not only wants, but needs many more. As mentioned before, the government is making major investments, and is trying to attract investment from foreign universities. According to Thirumalachari Ramasami, the Indian government’s head of science and technology, the idea (may as well call it the hope!) is that by 2020, the country will witness about 20,000 PhD graduates every year.

With the respect and reputation that the degree commands, one would think that these targets would not be too difficult to reach. But there is still a huge gap in the expectations and the reality. And that gap boils down to two factors – the level of professional opportunities available to PhD graduates in the country, and the primary goal of those who enter higher education is not to be academicians but to make money. “And why not?” says Amit Patra, an engineer at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur. According to Patra, a bachelor’s is enough to secure a job and to climb up the ladder. “And even if I think of my master’s or PhD, it will be much more valued outside India than within. Why then, should I spend six years of my life over it?” he questions. Even after a doctoral degree, there are few opportunities in India in the field of academics, and the much higher-paying industry jobs pull the crowd away.

Bridging the gap
Many senior researchers are of the opinion that the gap that ageing researchers will leave behind after they retire will be hard to fill. That also poses a problem for the specific fields. In fact, this writer attended a teachers’ day event this year where all those who were felicitated were over 45 years of age, and some of those in research were slated to retire. “Students today lack the passion for research and that is going to harm the country in the long run,” says Dr Arun Nigavekar Former Chairman, UGC; Founder Director,NAAC; Senior Advisor, Science and Technology Park, Pune. So in spite of fact that the University of Mumbai saw a record 2,174 candidates sign up for its first-ever PhD entrance test on February 26 this year, professors remain sceptical about the number of students who will actually complete their PhDs.
There has also been suggestions put forth that we should go the China way where and adopt their technique to increase Ph D output significantly. China sought help from the US and entered into tie ups that allowed doctoral students from Chinese universities to earn fellowships and spend between one to two years at a professor’s laboratory in the US to start their dissertation research.
Prof T A Abinandanan, from the Department of Materials Science at IISc, is not agreeable to the idea. “When we have Indian problems, and we’re generally lamenting about the abysmal state of research in India, we need to find the problems in our system and solutions thereof. Not do that in another country!” he comments.

Other issues
The dearth of great guides is a major issue with many existing candidates. The guide plays a major role in getting the work done by the candidate and keeping the work on the right track. Unfortunately, there are very few good ones! The government has attempted to redress issues of funding by facilitating tie-ups between government research institutes and the industry. But even that is not yielding adequate results. Dr LM Bhole, former Professor, IIT Bombay, offers no solutions, but talks of passion. He talks about the role that research plays in creating excellence in higher education. According to him, the ideal would be the pursuit of both science, and selfrealisation or self-knowledge, being well aware that it might sound like Utopia to the listener.

In a survey of students from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Kanpur and Bombay nearly 42 per cent of the candidates said they would be willing to do PhDs if the job opportunities after PhD increased and provided compensation of more than Rs.1 lakh per month. The fruits of labour have to be ripe enough for harvest, if India wants to see more researchers in the future!

Volume 1 Issue 5