Friday, August 16, 2013

49% spurt in PhD degrees in four years: Tharoor

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 


New Delhi: Poor research output of students is considered one of the biggest drawbacks of Indian higher education. The government, however, claims there has been a 49.27% growth in the number of research degrees (PhDs) awarded by the Indian universities between 2008-09 and 2011-12. 
    In a reply in the Rajya Sabha, minister of state for human resource development Shashi Tharoor said that in 2008-09, 10,781 PhDs were awarded and the number increased to 16,093 in 2011-12. 
    There has also been a massive jump in India’s contribution to international research publications. Citing a report by the Unesco Institute of Statistics, Tharoor said Indian contributions increased from 26,000 in 2002 to 44,000 in 2007. Despite the rapid strides in research, India is still way behind other nations. In the same period, the number of PhDs in China increased from 14,706 to 48,112. Increase in PhDs in the US was, however, marginal — from 40,024 to 41,464. 
    As for contribution to the world publications, Unesco data shows that between 2002 and 2007, Brazil’s contribution increased from 16,000 to 29,000, Russia’s from 31,000 to 32,000, China’s from 62,000 to 1.94 lakh, the UK’s from 93,000 to 1.25 lakh, Japan’s from 92,000 to 98,000 and that of the US from 3.15 lakh to 3.58 lakh. 
    Tharoor said the government has taken various steps for promotion and growth of post-graduate level studies and research. New institutions for science education and research have been set up. Universities are getting centres of excellence, new and attractive fellowships are on offer and there is emphasis on strengthening the research & development infrastructure in universities. 
    Tharoor said the HRD ministry had also set up a task force under M M Sharma for rejuvenation of basic scientific research. The task force has been converted into an empowered committee to implement its own recommendations. 
    In social sciences, he said, various research councils — Indian Council of Historical Research, Indian Council of Social Science Research and Indian Council of Philosophical Research — have been asked to fund more research initiatives.

Shashi Tharoor, minister of state for HRD, said there has also been a massive jump in India’s contribution to international research publications.


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