2. What is Research?
Research and Development(R&D)
• Creative work to increase the stock of knowledge to
devise new applications.
Basic Types of Research
• Scientific Research: Provides scientific information
and theories for the explanation of the nature and the
properties of the world.
• Research in the humanities: Involves different
methods such as hermeneutics and semiotics.
• Artistic research: Practice-based research can take
form when creative works are considered both the
research and the object of research itself.
Other Points:
Research is not limited to a scientist working in a
laboratory. The word “jugaad” also is a part of research
and innovation.
Any creative work even at local level which can help
improve the life of people is also an innovation or research.
Problems associated with Promoting Research in India
1. Poor Research Infrastructure: The Universities in India, in spite
of grants from the Government lack state-of-the-art tools
and machineries.
2. Low industry-to-lab linkages result in unviable or unutilized
research: Course content is obsolete. Content is updated after a
long time. Students are not exposed to new development in
technology.
3. Social: The perception of research in our country is not one of
respect and honour in the society. The perception of research in
society has to change in order to encourage research in society.
4. Problems with Education:
• No encouragement to make children curious at root level.
• Failure to keep pace with the development.
• Failure to provide students with the right role models to inspire
them in research.
3. Proposed Solution
Advertisements -
Highlighting outstanding
research, researchers,
competitions
Government announce more
research awards to promote
research in all areas.
Social
Encourage foreign students to
pursue education in existing
Indian Institutes: Countries like
the USA raise money for
education by allowing foreign
students to gain quality
education in their existing
Universities. We fail to leverage
the standing of IITs which offer
quality technical education at
the Undergraduate levels.
FDI in universities.
School Level
Invite role models as guest in
schools
Government organize
competitions that promote
research by providing stipend,
evaluated at regular intervals to
ensure authenticity.
Economic(Infrastructure)
Update course-curriculum.
Promote entrepreneurship
skills.
College level Admission Policy
Admission process of IIIT,
Hyderabad for research
streams includes interview.
Project work at school level
should be considered.
4. Implementation at Various Levels
The course curriculum and content at the
undergraduate studies will be revised and made
up-to-date.
Research at undergraduate level will be
introduced.
One research course will be made compulsory in
the penultimate and last year of the
undergraduate studies.
Stake holders
1. All college students
2. Colleges
3. Business Market
College level
Admission criteria for research students will be
revised . It will take into account student’s
1. domain knowledge
2. practical knowledge
3. participation in research competitions
and projects
4. cumulative analysis of previous
performance.
More Interviews than exams.
Interviews would be domain specific in which
the student has applied for admission.
Stakeholders :
1. Research pursuing students.
2. Research institutes
Admission Policy
Social Level
1. Advertisement on popular television channels:
Production cost : 2 lakhs
Advertisement cost in prime time on major channels : 5 lakhs
2. Advertisement on Social media sites :
Average Fan Cost : USD $5
Average Revenue : USD $10
5. Implementation
Economic Level
Attract foreign students to pursue higher
education in India.
Add seats for foreign nationals in Educational
Institutes in India like the IITs and IIMs & the fee for
these seats must be higher than the ones for Indian
Nationals. The money thus generated should be
used to improve infrastructure.
The Stakeholders involved will be the Government
Institutes like IITs that provide the education and
the Foreign nationals that gain education.
Currently, the existing Institutions already have the
infrastructure like hostels and messes that cater to
the requirements of the student of the Institutes.
The same can be utilised for the foreign nationals as
well.
No extra financial and human resources are
required for this process.
6. Implementation
Economic Level
Allow foreign universities to set up Campuses in India
Currently we see people going to countries like the USA and Australia to pursue higher
education in different fields . By allowing quality Foreign universities to set up campuses in
India, we can prevent this brain drain and encourage a healthy competition in higher
education. The Government should however reserve the right to allow foreign universities to
set up a campus in India and monitors their functioning in India.
The stakeholders involved are the government of India and the Foreign Universities that are
willing to open foreign campuses in India.
In order to attract foreign Universities, the Government can, if possible, provide land at
subsidised rates to open foreign campuses within the Country. The specifics could vary
from university to university.
The human resources involved would require the setting up of a department that controls
which countries are granted to open campuses in India. The Universities interested in
opening campuses would submit their request to these departments. The department would
then verify the applications based upon the following criteria:
Research Papers published by Faculties and Students.
Awards and recognition received.
Contribution to Industrial Research
Faculty to Student Ratio.
The department will also monitor the quality of education within these institutions once they are set
up and make sure they adhere to the outlines of the government.
7. Implementation
School Level
•Government sponsored trips of distinguished lecturers to government schools .
Private schools, in the face of competition from government schools, will soon
follow their footsteps.
•Presence of distinguished lecturers in government schools would boost the
morale of the students. Also, a teacher from the school can be assigned the
responsibility of managing the entire trip of the lecturer. A good feedback from
the lecturer about the trip implies better chances of being re-elected for the same
post. Teachers bearing the post are paid more than normal teachers.
•Cost analysis:
• Transportation Cost: 10,000
• Accommodation + Food: 5,000
•Government can solely sponsor the trip or increase the school fees a bit.
8. Implementation
School Level
• Government announce and organize competitions at national level to inculcate
research in young minds.
• Competitions are well publicized in newspapers, television etc.
• They address to all school going students.
• The stipend to be provided to selected students is attractive.
• Selected students undergo a rigorous periodic evaluation to ensure
stipends are utilised to aid research and not any other goals.
• Approximate expenditure per test centre:
• Invigilators : Rs. 300
• Question papers: Rs. 300
OMR Evaluation: 20,000
Number of selected students = 2,500
Dispatch of results : 75,000
9. Implementation
School Level
• Interview process expenditure (approx.) :
• Panel Members (Accommodation + Food) : Rs. 10,000
Number of written test centres across country = 1,000
Invigilators per test centre = 20
Number of interview test centres across country = 30
Number of interviewers per test centre = 6
Number of awardees = 50
Stipend Amount = Rs. 24,000/year
• Total expenditure = Rs. 89,66,000
• Sources of funding:
One application form costs Rs. 500.
10. Impact of our solutions
SocialSchool Level
Allowing foreign students to study in Indian
Institutions will help gather monetary
support for research activities within the
institutes.
Allowing foreign universities to open
campuses in India would promote a healthy
competition among educational institutes
in the field of research. It would also
mitigate brain drain to some extent.
The society will become aware
about the contribution of research
towards solving the problems they
face.
More people would be encouraged
to pursue research.
Economic
Motivate students to pursue
research.
This will also help in changing the
image of research among students.
College Level
Their education will be more relevant to
the present time. They will be able to
redirect the research efforts towards the
current problems.
Entrepreneurship skills would be promoted
to develop research into economic returns.
Admission Policy
By changing the admission policy
as proposed, we hope to provide
opportunities to students who are
motivated to pursue research in
that particular field. This will help
improve the quality of research.
11. College Level & Admission Policy:
The educational institutes will be
reluctant for revision in curriculum as
well as admission policy.
Mitigation:
• We need to deliberate with
educational institutes & make
them understand that the
benefits of these policies will
improve the quality of
education in India.
Social
Government doesn’t find it
viable to promote research
through advertisements on
television channels.
Mitigation:
• Alternative forms of
ads that cost less
like social media,
etc. are still viable.
Economic
In the short term, the move of allowing
foreign universities to set up campuses,
may not be well received by existing
Indian Universities, however, in the long
run, it hopes to improve the quality of
education across all Indian Universities
through healthy competition.
The image of India as a country unsafe
for women might deter foreign nationals
from coming to India.
Challenges
School Level
Government might
not find it feasible
to invest in
research
competitions.
Challenges and Mitigation Factors
