Higher technical education in India :
prospects, challenges and the way forward
P. Rama Rao
ARCI, Hyderabad
New Delhi, February 14, 2013
1
Outline
The prospect
Review of the present status
Expanding nos and impairment of quality
Regional imbalance with impact on regional economy
Faculty shortage
Not a happy situation at Masters and PhD levels
Patents and publications
Qualified manpower in specialised fields
Absence of international flavour
Consequences of low research
Some success stories
Technology for widening knowledge base
New models of institutional structure
Setting a goal
2
The prospect
The great untapped resource of technical and
scientific knowledge available to India for the
taking is the economic equivalent of the
untapped continent available to the United
States 150 years ago
M ilton Friedm an, NL
(Consultant to I ndia’s M inistry of Finance 1955)
The great importance of human capital
GDP (PPP)
=
N.Y
N : population, Y : per capita income,
Y
=
T f (k . h . r)
k : investment capital, h : human capital,
r : resources
By 2050 India’s working age population will amount to a staggering 900
million.
“The wealth and prosperity of a nation depend on the effective
utilisation of its human and material resources through
industrialisation (investment capital). The use of human material
for industrialisation demands its education in science and
training in technical skills”
Scientific policy resolution 1958
The potential for India’s economic growth via its human capital (h) is
stupendous and exceeds that of the major competing nations 5
Source : UN World Investment Report, 2005
UNICI = (HCI) Human Capital Index + (TCI) Technological Capability Index
2
HCI = { Literacy rate as % of population (wt. 1) + Secondary School
Enrolment (wt. 2) + Tertiary enrolment as % age group (wt. 3)} / 6
TCI = {R&D personnel pmp + US patents pmp + Scientific publication
pmp} / 3
Saburo Okita’s focus on engg & tech
education in JAPAN
YEAR
No of Engg Graduates
INDIA
0.6 per
million,
1955
9600
1985
>36000
% Engg / All of Univ
22%
% going to PG Education
No of Ph.Ds per million (1998)
50%
GDP $1450 GDP per Capita
per capita
(2011)
22
Engg : Science
>2 : 1
$33400
R&D personnel highest per 1000 population
JAPAN
> 7 per 1000
USA
- 4 per 1000
INDIA
- 0.35 per 1000
Saburo Okita achieved his goal of doubling Japanese
economy in the decade of the 1960s
7
Expanding numbers and
impairment of quality
8
Degree awarding universities and institutes 2012
Total - 635
Affiliated colleges: 33,623
Annual enrollment
~17 million
Deemed to be universities (129)
(Recognised as such by MHRD)
Self financed
Govt funded
39
90
NB: Not mentioned or
counted here are the
PG diploma awarding
institutions
Diversity of governance systems is truly mind-boggling and
unlike in any other country
Private institutions lead in terms of number of institutions and student
enrollment
Form of presence (46,430)
University and university
level Institutions
659
Colleges
33,023
Diploma-granting
institutions
12,748
Central
152
Central
669
Central
NIL
State
316
State
13,024
State
3,207
Private
191
Private
19,930
Private
9,541
Enrollment in 2012 (million) - 18.5
•Have considerable academic,
administrative and financial
autonomy
•Can award degrees
Private institutes (~30,000) account for
the majority of HEIs…
•Lower investment required
to set up affiliated colleges
(given their typical scale)
than
to
establish
universities :Affiliated to a
university
Enrollment in 2012 (million) - 3.3
•Face limited regulatory
interface since they deal
with a single regulatory
body (AICTE)
…as well as student enrollment
10
Quality fraction among universities and
colleges
Central universities
Institutes of National Importance
State Universities qualifying
for UGC funding
Deemed to be universities categorised A
Institutes set up by State Acts
43
58
140
38
8
----------287
(fraction 287 out of 635)
Colleges qualifying for UGC grants
8216
8216 out of 33,623
Colleges with potential for excellence : ~120
Quality fraction of universities 45% and colleges 24% 11
Quality fraction in technical education
No. of colleges
(Private account for ~90%)
No. accredited, as on June 2009
(No accreditation by NBA for the
past nearly 3 years)
Total intake
(Private account for ~97%)
3,400
210
20,00,000
IITs (7+8)
7,500
NITs(20+10)
15,000
Other good institutions / universities
17,500
-----------40,000
(Quality fraction 40,000 out of 20,00,000)
The best account for less than 3%. System of accreditation dysfunctional.
12
Govt support to private institutions should be seriously considered
Regional imbalance with impact
on regional economy
13
Per capita State domestic product and gross
enrolment ratio in higher education are correlated.
Dr. M. Anandakrishnan 2006
Country-wise GER and GDP per
capita comparison
E & Y Report 2012
GDP per capita (Current US$), 2010
Source: Keynote address by Dr. M. Anandakrishnan at the 36th annual meeting
14
(2006) of the Indian Society for Technical Education.
Intake at undergraduate level vs. ITES employment
(% of National : 2010)
66%
51%
Engg.
4 States (27% population)
•Andhra Pradesh
•Karnataka
•Maharashtra
•Tamil Nadu
MCA
4 States account for 57 % of ITES & BPO
employment
15
Biotechnology scene in India
Nos. are in % national
Several large states are practically non existent in the
biotechnology scene
16
Faculty shortage
17
Alarming faculty situation
annual intake
> 20,00,000
faculty shortage
(at 1:15 students)
~ 80,000
shortage of PhDs
(at 1:2:6 cadre ratio)
~ 60,000
shortage of masters
~ 25,000
faculty dominated by B.Techs
poor quality of teaching; several
graduates unemployable; failure
rate high in some states.
Data show that there is no dearth of employment opportunities for
M.Techs and Ph.Ds in academic institutions
18
Not a happy situation at
Masters and PhD levels
19
Engineering out-turn at different levels
Bachelors
U.S.A
INDIA
~75,000
~20,00,000
(4% of India)
Masters
~37,500
(50% of India)
PhD
7500
(500% of India)
(Accounted for
by ~40 (~12%)
of the 3,400 institutions)
75,000
(4% of Bachelors)
1500
(< 0.1% of Bachelors)
Govt support to PG educn and PhD research in pvt instns - about
500 of them - could be considered
Going up the value chain in higher education and achieving
20
higher outturns is a daunting challenge
Patents and publications
21
US patents assigned to India, China, Israel
4500
4000
China > 4000
3500
Patents
3000
2500
2000
1500
Israel ~ 1500
1000
India ~ 500
500
Source: US PTO database
N G SATISH, ASCI
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
0
22
US patents assigned to universities
350
300
India
China
Israel
250
Patents
200
150
100
50
0
2001
2005
2010
2012
N G SATISH, ASCI
23
Israel elicits admiration
ISRAEL
Top countries in engineering
Rank Country
Papers
Impact
4
USA
1,89,000
6.1
8
ISRAEL
7000
5.5
24
CHINA
73000
3.9
25
INDIA
24000
3.6
~50% R&D intensity in exports
Per capita venture investments
2.5 times USA
350 times India
Source: Times Higher Edn 2012
45% Israelis (as against 10% in
India) in the 25-34 year age group
possess graduate and higher degrees
Further young Israelis have to
render national service which gives
them perspective and maturity
Source: Dan Senor and Saul Singer in Israel's economic
miracle 2009 by the council on foreign relations
Qualified manpower in
specialised fields
25
DRDO aerospace programmes
• DRDL
• ASL
• RCI
• ITR
• ISSA
The concern is not so much about how many DRDO has in a given broad
field, but it is more about how many there are in a required specialisation.
LRDE’s alarming loss of trained experts
Large pool of experts
Prior to 2000
Attrition thro’
resignation
2005
Attrition thro’
retirement
Reduced number
of experts
Attrition in core area of
signal processing
Improved manpower
with poor expertise
Addition of raw
scientists
No. of scientists in 2004 - 59
No. resigned in 2004-2007 - 29
Reduction in 3 years
- 50%
Further
attrition
with no
Inputs
Further reduction of
manpower & expertise
Future
It is poignant to recall - Hamlet’s final words ….
the rest is silence !
Computer science & engineering
B.Tech
250000
M.Tech
5000
Ph.D
< ~50
(0.02% of
B.Tech)
29
Higher education in geology, mining
and metallurgy have lost attraction
Met. intake X 100
Engg. intake
2.5
2
Institutions Outturn
50,000
1.5
%
1
M.Sc
(Geology)
~50
~500
B.Tech
(Mining)
~10
~200
0.5
0
~1000 Met. Graduates ….…
1983
500,000
2006
Percentage MET. Graduates has dropped by 10x
How then are we to cope with the country’s needs of
exploration and mining of resources and their subsequent
exploitation: rare earth materials is a case in point 30
India’s disturbing energy materials scenario
Resource
Proven Iron Ore
resource
Reserves
Production (mT
OE)
Consumption
(mT OE)
Import
44
Bt
190
204
6%
Poor quality coal 25-35%
ash.
Clean coal technology yet
to be mastered
6
b Barrels
38
120
68%
Exploration inadequate
Gas
1.0
trillion
Cu.m
27
30
10%
Exploration improving but
still inadequate
Wind
(Shore
based)
45,000
MW
<4000
MW
--
--
Carbon fiber required for
bigger and more powerful
wind energy generators.
Meager production begun.
(Offshore)
No Data
Nil
Nil
-
Solar
Substantial
potential
~10 MW
using
Crystalline
silicon
Small
relative
to world
Mostly
imported
Coal
25 years ago
India
: 12 Bil. Tons
Australia
: 12 Bil. Tons
Brazil
: 12 Bil. Tons Oil
Currently
Australia
Brazil
India
: 50 Bil. Tons
: 40 Bil. Tons
: 12 Bil. Tons
Coal only 45 % of
potential coal
bearing area
surveyed so far
Remarks
~ 20,000 MW by 2012
Raw materials exploration and scaling up product
production waiting for attention
International
flavour in our
academic institutions nearly
absent
USA has flourished most because of the longpracticed tradition of internationalisation of
their academic faculty and students
32
Progression in transmittal across national
boundaries
Finally R&D crosses
national barriers
Currently 870 MNCs with
R&D units in India
First ideas crossed, then
Trade (products), then
Production (multinationals), then
technology
Integration of economies in a
knowledge world
Multi country projects
India
China
Assigned to host
country institutions
Israel
Assigned to foreign
institutions
Compiled by Dr. NG Satish, ASCI Hyderabad
Military
Aircraft
Fusion energy
Genome
An pioneering initiative of CAR which is a brainchild of
Dr. R. Chidambaram
Fraunhofer
Indian R&D
Partners • Investigation of suitability of various joining Institutes
International
Advanced Research
Centre for Powder
Metallurgy & new
Materials (ARCI)
techniques on identified materials/profiles
– Cold metal transfer (CMT) brazing
– Laser brazing
– Mechanical joining
Indian Institute of
Science (IISc)
Indian Institute
of Technology
(IIT) Madras
Automotive
Research
Association of
India (ARAI),
Pune
– Adhesive bonding
•
Generation of performance data of various
dissimilar material joints / configurations
•
Development of suitable quality management
concept, including application of NDT techniques
•
Design, fabrication and testing of demonstrator
assemblies
Indian Auto OEMs
Institute for Machine
tools and Forming
Technology (IWU),
Chemnitz and
Dresden
Institute for
Materials and
Beam
Technologies
(IWS), Dresden
Institute for
Manufacturing
Technology and
Applied Materials
Research (IFAM)
Institute for NonDestructive
Testing (IZFP)
34
Consequences of low
research across disciplines
35
Asymmetry in technological accomplishment
Strategic technology
Technology base
index (tbi)*
Indigenously designed 700+ Mwe U.S.A
PHWRs in 5 years construction
time
0.73
INSAT system for tv access to
more than 80% of population
JAPAN
0.70
IRS system for management of
national natural resources
S. KOREA
0.67
Long range guided missiles
INDIA
0.20
Power plant equipment
TBI is a composite index of 4 criteria; (HDR 2001)
(a) Technology creation (patents and receipts of royalty and license fees from abroad;
(b) Diffusion of recent innovations (ICT and exports of higher and medium technology products);
(c) Diffusion of old innovations (telephones and electricity; and
36
(d) Human skills (average years of schooling and gross tertiary enrollment in science, Maths and Engg.).
Successful stories
37
38
Dr. Y. Nayudamma model
Balanced development of Indian leather sector: A success story of academiaindustry partnership in the 1951-2005 era
1951 19611971 19811991 19982001 2004
Export
Employment
80000
70000
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
Million People
Million Rupees
100000
90000
This m odel is only
now being em ulated
0.5
10000
0
0
1951 19611971 19811991 19982001 2004
CLRI founded in 1948 built up an organic link with Anna University in providing education in
leather technology. 1300 graduates have played the lead role in causing technological changes in
60% of Indian leather industry & 15% of Asian Industry.
CLRI was the only CSIR Laboratory to be established on a University Campus ( A.L. Mudaliyar)
ICT, Mumbai (deemed university) (Estd : 1933)
INDIA’s first Ph.D
in engg (chem.
engg) 1942
First Head
: Prof Robert Forster (1933-38)
First Indian Director
: Prof. K. Venkata Raman; Example sustained
Disciplines
: Chem. Engg; Chem. Tech; Pharmacy
Biotechnology (PG), Diploma in Chemical Technology
Management
OUTPUTS (20011-12)
Govt. Grant (per year)
Private funding
Faculty Strength
No. of Ph.Ds
No. of Cited Publications
No. of Patents filed
Donation, Sponsorship, etc.
Project Funding
Graduates
: Rs. 11.19 crore
: Rs. 9.5 crore
: 78
58 (eligible to guide)
: 498 (> 6 per faculty)
: 268 (> 4 per faculty)
: 96 (Indian) 37 (Foreign)
: 9.55 crores
: 32.45 Crores (Govt Projects including UGC)
4.65 Crores (Industry Projects)
: 1012 Bachelors,
353 Masters, 498 Ph.Ds , 37 Diploma in
Chemical Technology Management
ICT ranked best PG centre in India and comparable to the best in the world.
39
Technology for widening
knowledge base
(NKN, NPTEL, I of EC)
40
Introduction
Key Highlights of NKN
NKN is a state-of-the-art multi-gigabit pan-India network for providing a unified high
speed network backbone for all knowledge related institutions in the country
► 9th April
An idea from the Office
of Principal Scientific
Advisor GoI, & NKC
National Informatics
Centre (NIC) designated
as the Project Execution
Agency
GoI approved a budget
of Rs 5990 Crores for
NKN in March, 2010
2009: Hon’ble
President of India, Smt.
Allocation of `100 Crore
for the implementation
of Pilot phase of NKN
Will connect Research &
Development,
educational, health, and
agricultural institutes
1500+ institutes to be
connected; connectivity
to 885 institutes has
already been provided
Pratibha Devisingh Patil
inaugurated the NKN Project.
► 16 PoP
► 26 Backbone Links
► 57 Edge Links
►
5th March, 2011: Hon’ble
Minister Comm & IT, Shri
Kapil Sibal and Hon’ble
Minister of State for Comm &
IT, Shri Sachin Pilot launched
the Logo and Website of NKN
►
►
►
31 PoP
76 Backbone Links
216 Edge Links
NKN Connectivity
Educational
Research Labs
Institutions
CSIR/DAE/DRDO/ISRO/ICAR
NTRO
Cert-IN
EDUSAT
National
Internet
Exchange
Points (NIXI)
INTERNET
Connections to
Global Networks
(e.g. TEIN3)
NKN
MPLS
Clouds
Broad Band
Clouds
National / State
Data Centers/ Networks
NKN Connected to TEIN4 Network
US
EUROPE
COPENHEGAN
BEIJING
HONGKONG
MADRID
MUMBAI INDIA
SINGAPORE
MUMB
AI
BANGALURU
DELHI
• Network Across 19 Countries
• 8000 Research & Academic
Organization Members
• 45 Million Users
• Direct Peering with GEANT EU
HYDERABAD
CHENNAI
GUWAHATI
KOLKATA
JAPAN
Project summary to-date
Total number of courses made
available in video and web formats
Subject matter experts
Over 1230
Over 1200
24
Disciplines
a)
b)
c)
d)
Basic sciences - 7
Engineering - 15
Humanities and Social Sciences – 1
Mathematics - 1
Courtesy : Professor K Mangala Sunder
44
Initiates to enhance research in basic sciences in
universities (Expenditure so far 750Cr)
•
•
Proposed by Science advisory council
to PM
Empowered committee chaired by
Professor MM Sharma with the
following as members
S Varma 2012
– G Mehta, P Rama Rao, K Hari Narayana,
K Thiyagarajan
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Pro-active funding to UGC recognised
institutions
Infrastructure @ Rs.30 lakh to over 800
departments
Doctor fellowships to over 6750
Post-Doctor fellowships to over 500
Support to college with potential to
excellence and autonomous college
over 420
Funding upto Rs.10Cr to 9 networking
centres
Faculty recharge aim is to reach 1000
The core aim of the new
initiative is to achieve a
quantum gem in the annual
output of quality Ph.Ds
45
New models of institutional
structure and new initiatives to
attract young talent to science
46
IIIT Hyderabad
Registered society through Public-Private partnership
State Government (Public) provided land and buildings
Plurality of private companies (therefore no single
company dominates management) invested in other
infrastructure and in a corpus fund via State Govt.
intervention
Governing Council chaired by an Internationally
acclaimed academic
Distinguished academic as the Director
Setup Research Centres
30% of B.Tech students choose the research option
and work toward B.Tech (Honours), 50% of whom go
on to one year MS by research
PhD Research underway
47
Research ambience unique to IIIT among companion Engg colleges
DAE-HBNI
• Research centres: BARC, IGCAR, RRCAT, VECC,
• Grant-in-aid institutions: SINP, HRI, IMSc, IPR, IOP
• Academic programmes started in mid-2006.
• Programmes include Ph.D. , M.Tech., M.Phil.,
M.Sc.(Engg.), M.Sc., Super-specialty and postgraduate medical courses, M.Sc.(Nursing), Diploma
in Nuclear Medicine, Diploma in Radiation Protection
etc.
• Ph.D enrollment to-date : 1470 (engg - 330)
• Output till now includes 194 PhDs, 8 MPhils , 19
MSc(engg.), 447 M.Techs., 48 from medical degree
programmes plus more from other programmes.
HBNI is proving to be a success story
Academy of Scientific and Innovative
Research (AcSIR)
• Established by an Act of Parliament
(Gazette notification: Feb 7, 2012)
• All CSIR laboratories come under its ambit
• Offers MTech and PhD degrees: 123 MTechs
graduated till date, absorbed in CSIR and
they will continue for PhD in CSIR labs.
1900 PhDs enrolled so far in Engineering
and Science topics of interest to CSIR
New initiatives to enhance quality of science
education and of students
1. University education in science, IASc Academy
paper 1994
2. Restructuring Post-school Science Teaching
Programmes, INSA, IASc, NASc Position paper
2008
3. KVPY national programme of fellowships, DST
4. INSPIRE scheme fellowships, DST
5. STIO special programme to help overseas Indian
scientists to collaborate with Indian counterparts
6. DAE Graduate Fellowship scheme and Dr KS
Krishnan Research Associate ship Programme
50
The ideal model
51
Level of excellence
Seems infeasible
High
Low
Low
High
Level of resources
Low
Most Public
Institutions
High
Most
Private
Institutions
in India
Present Situation
Level of autonomy
Seems feasible only with
benevolent and visionary
private sector initiative
Has happened in USA.
Can it happen in India?
Undesirable Private University enactment
by Center needed
Framework for positioning higher education institutions
52
Desirable features of a role model institution for
higher technical education and research
Government’s role limited to facilitation
Internationally acclaimed best practices
Research intensive UG programme with strong
foundation in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry,
Biology and Liberal Arts. (e.g. 4-year B.S.
programme at IISc which allows easier migration
between science and engineering streams)
PG and Research degrees in advanced fields to
serve high-tech indigenous programmes of public
and private institutions
2012 Global employment ranking of IISc
rose to 35 from 134
IT, BT & manufacturing will be incredibly enriched by employing
graduates with advanced research degrees
53
Setting a goal
54
Academic R&D and national wealth (2005-06)
Item
INDIA
SOUTH
KOREA
FINLAND
U.S.A
GDP (in billion $)
1100
970
250
14000
R&D as % GNP
~1%
3%
2.8%
Academic R&D as % total 4%
R&D expenditure
11.5%
3.5%
(nokia
alone 1%)
18%
Citations to all papers to
national GDP*
<0.02
0.07
0.44
0.25
Wealth intensity (PPP
adjusted per person)*
2900
15600
27,100
35800
20%
World’s 30
of 40
topmost
universities
in USA
* David King, Nature, 430 (2004) 311-16
Academic R&D and wealth of nations correlated
UN report applauds Finland’s model of integrating S&T and industrial policies to develop an
55
innovation policy; Country transformed from forest based economy to high technology
based economy
Potential for India’s human capital to dominate
in globalized knowledge economy
By 2050, India will have one of world’s largest young population
25% of world’s graduate students?!
FULLTIME
PhDs in S&T
RESEARCHERS
(Annually)
Electricity / Capita
INDIA
200,000
~7,000
650kWh
U.S.A.
1,200,000
~28,000
13,000kWh
Factor
~6
~4
~ 20
Bridging these
gaps doable
Bridging this gap
not possible in the
foreseeable future
India potentially could be the single largest producer of highly
qualified engineers and an awesome possessor of the largest young
56
workforce with the highest level of knowledge skills in the world
“The conquest of the technical
frontier, like the conquest of the
geographical frontier, requires a
varied initiative by millions of
individuals”
Milton Friedman NL
Report to ministry of finance 1955
What then should be INAE initiatives in India’s
engineering education and research on this
momentous occasion of its silver jubilee ?
57
References
• A Half-Century of Indian Higher Education
Essays by Philip G. Altbach, Ed Pawan Agarwal (SAGE
2012)
• Profile of Engineering Education in India
Gautam Biswas et al – INAE (Narosa 2010)
• Indian Higher Education; Envisioning the Future
Pawan Agarwal (SAGE 2009)
• Innovatiive India Rises
Ed L.K Sharma (Medialand, London, 2008)
• India Science Report (NCAER 2005)
References
• Science in India: Achievements & Aspirations (INSA
2010)
• Higher Science Education, P.Rama Rao
• Engg and Technical Education in India, D.V.Singh
• Higher Education in Science and R &D: Challenges
and the Road Ahead (INSA, IASc 2006)
School
• Restructuring
Post
Programme, Curr Sci (2008)
DAE-HBNI
• HBNI runs a unique Ph.D. programme where a student has two
supervisors: one having strength in basic research and the other
having strength in technology development. Aim of this programme
and HBNI itself is to develop strong epistemic bridges between
science, engineering and technology.
• HBNI has helped DAE to strengthen academic collaborations
within its units and also outside. Formal arrangements established
with IIT-Bombay; IIT-Madras; IIT-Kanpur; Institute of Chemical
Technology, Mumbai; Tata Institute of Fundamental Research;
Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata; Jadavpur University, Kolkata;
Commissariat à l’énergie Atomique (CEA), France; and University of
Virginia, USA. Likely to be established with IISc, Bangalore;
University of North Texas, USA; and University of Texas at Austin,
USA.
A brainchild of Dr Anil Kakodkar, HBNI is proving to be a
success story
Essential improvements everywhere, easier in IITs
Enhancing three-fold autonomy :
governance, financial & academic: review of this aspect necessary
Distinguished Board of Governors : revisit selection
procedure
Overcome financial resource constraints
High caliber research leader as Director
Well-paid eminent professionals as faculty
Enhance quality of non-teaching staff is critical
Competition for high quality students
Partnership with world leading institutions including for
sharing of faculty
Reduce administrative burden of Director and faculty – eg
estate management
Spread good practices across IITs
62
The challenge is to sustain excellence over centuries
AICTE committee recommendations for faculty
improvement in institutions other than IITs
100 mentor institutions to impart M.tech and
research training
sequential summer programmes
enhanced number of adjunct and visiting faculty
1000 QIP scholarships
engaging
support
retired
teachers
with
augmented
virtual technical university
establishing an international centre on the model
of ICTP
Recommendations emphasise setting up a dedicated cell
with a separate special budget to implement the above
63
NPTEL contents developed as 4 quadrants
Content web based lecture
notes / video lectures in an
organized form
Animations/ visuals /
illustrations, video
demonstrations/documentar
ies and interactive
simulations wherever
required
Supplementary reading/Wiki
Development on the course,
other resources /open content
in the internet, Case studies,
anecdotal information,
historical development of the
subject
Problems, quizzes,
assignments and solutions,
online feedback through
discussion forums and setting
up the FAQ