on Jun 15th, 2009State of higher education in India with a focus on Computer Science
I came back from attending a session which spoke about the state of graduate education in India and here is the summary:
- Just over 450,000 students in India graduate with an Engineering degree
- 150,000 students amongst them with a degree in either Computer Science or Information Technology.
- There are about 1500 Engineering colleges in India.
- Many of these colleges don’t even have a full professor on their rolls.
- Currently there are about 750 students pursuing a Phd in 15 of the most reputed institutions in the country which means that, about 80 to 90 students graduate with a Phd from one of the 15 reputed institutions in India.
- The 15 reputed institutions include the IIT’s, NIT’s, two of the IIIT’s (Hyderabad and Bangalore) and some autonomous institutions like BITS and Vellore.
- The percentage of students who take up graduate education after their engineering in India is drastically low.
- About a quarter of the students who secure Phd’s from universities from the US are Indians.
- Students of Indian and Chinese origin make up half the graduate schools students in America.
- Most people who secure their Phd’s from universities in India either join small and focused research groups in IT companies or take up faculty positions.
- This year the amount of students applying for graduate education has increased dramatically, which only is reassuring evidence that graduate education is seen as a substitute for jobs and not as something of value.
- A couple of IIT’s got about 700 applications for masters and phd positions.
Apart from all this the research output in India is not very high. Groups doing theory are considered to be doing some of the state of the art research, the other departments are not very highly regarded (I have a problem with this generalization, but we will keep that for another discussion). The researchers present in the discussion had plenty of points to contribute for the dismal state of higher education and some of the points mentioned were :
- Lack of good, trained and motivated faculty members. This was attributed to the fact that salaries in academia were not on par with that of the industry. (pay commission’s revisions should do some good in this direction)
- Lack of exposure to opportunities, challenges and rewards of research careers. ( this is true for colleges that are not very reputed, the quality of the faculty members are not up to the mark, which means they don’t have enough exposure … you get the point)
- Societal pressures for securing jobs, that too through college placements, rather than pursuing something that the student really wants to do. A survey of the choices of the students during the engineering seat selection process will ascertain this fact. I even know of people who took up courses they had no interest in just because it was in a college where the placements were good.
- Lack of funding for graduate students to attend conferences, workshops etc. ( though this was contested by a lot of people, I think , the problem lies in making the students aware of the funds that are available for such purposes )
- Discrimination against the students who graduate from the IIT’s versus other institutions. (though strong alumni networks are not anything new, other colleges should target to strengthen their alumni networks and not work as silo’s )
This is where I found the IIIT’s (particularly Hyderabad and Bangalore) to be very innovative in their approach. They are situated in the heartland of what can be considered seat of innovation in India. Both of them have strong collaboration with the Indigenous and multinational companies based out of their respective cities and provide for a wonderful platform for students to explore a mix of both academic research and industry relevant parts of the information technology industry. Both IIIT-H and IIIT-Bangalore have achieved recognition for their quality in the industry and academia, and that too in good time. I am positive that in a few years time, these institutions will be deeply connected to the research and development communities of the information technology industry in India and will contribute significantly to the intellectual output of the country.
disclaimer : the numbers mentioned in this post are thanks to Ashwani Sharma, part of the External Research Programs team at Microsoft Research India.
Hey Ritesh, nice post!
Do you have more info on this? A research paper or more material from the speaker of the session?
I would very much like to get more details.
Thanks a lot,
Ricardo
would have thought that the above post was “just another ad” by an ex-student. But, considering your credibility, there just might be a point there
@Ric,
I dont think I can find a paper on this. This is essentially data collected by a team at MSR which looks at how MSR can extend their support to research programs outside of the lab. They have initiatives like Phd Fellowships, summer schools on specified topics, techvista etc. I shall ask if the person who presented the information can actually divulge it.
If you can get more info, that would be great, thanks man!
Ritesh,
Good job!! There is overwhelming need for Indian students to gear up. Not just at IITs, IISc, NITs and IIITs, but mostly all undergrads to aim higher.
Additional number: there are around 8000 applicants at IISc for masters and PhD this time.
@Ritesh Yes, there is an overwhelming need for Indian students to gear up and think out of the box. Indian students, me included, should strive to make a mark in the world. We are known as the IT, support, backend engineers and that image should change. We need to be called innovators and people should take the stuff that we build here seriously.
About the IISc number, I heard there were 150 Phd applications in the computer science department alone. Thats a startling number.
Hey Ritesh, Very good post and well researched facts. Nicely put in a nut shell. Also i feel, adding to the dismal state of Indian graduate eduction and the low research output, is the problem of the egotic behaviour of certain institutions or professors of repute in the institute.
For eg. IISc this year got around 250 apps for their super computing dept, and guess how many they took , just 1 !!
They have taken just 1 student for the past 2 years, and students who pursued as research assistants or employees at core tech companies also were rejected. Infact IISc was given a grant of 100 crs, by the central ministry for boosting research , and their selections lists boasts of what they intend for personal ego rather than churning good research work.
I am not leaving a comment to pour out my angst, but i strongly feel Universities and Professors abroad, are far less rigid and open to take more risks when it comes to graduate courses.
@abhijit: I strongly believe that its not professors or an institution, but the entire eco system that supports graduate education in India. For starters, only a few students get stipends while studying and many top institutes offer very few scholarships. Culturally most students are inclined towards securing jobs in companies rather than starting something by themselves.
Unlike the US, startups in India pay very less. Can’t blame the startups, they get very little funding in which sustaining themselves becomes a challenge, let alone paying the employees.
Universities are rigid alright, but they are for a reason. Certain social and cultural trends have made Indian universities the way they are. I don’t think there are many places in India which can be called Universities, where you can explore interdisciplinary studies. Education itself is compartmentalized ; A student can only do CS or IT or Electronics. It will take some time for such a trend to change, but it will happen.
The most important one reason is rewards of research careers.
Great blog you got here…keep up the good work.