Old toddy in new bottles
More about irreverence
| Scientometric comparison of Indian institutions with other international institutions: a iCX map representation |
The first and third articles refer to my work. I wish I had thought of the iCX map representation of my data, but then I am happy that Gangan Prathap used my data to graphically represent what I wanted to convey.
Recently, I was happy to see an eminent author in the field of photocatalysis, mention my papers, say their group were inspired by this and then extend the work to a different level. You only wish you had thought of it, but then you are happy someone did !
13 comments:
What in the world is Saha Inst? It seems to be about 2X better than IISC on all metrices! Is this a new private initiative?
ram
It is the saha inst of nuclear physics. Some authors are part of the papers which have 250 authors or more. However, read the article in the issue of current science how contributions should be counted for these authors also.
I applaud the governments move to make our universities better. Universities have long been neglected in the interest of research institutes even though it is the universities that educate the masses of India. Why does it matter if they are called navaratnas, ivy league equivalents or world class etc. Call them by any name that you want !!
IIT's or IISc's became what they are because the govt decided to do all the article lists over a long period of time. Would the professor have been happier if the objective was to make these universities into IISC or IIT equivalents ?
I am guessing that there are only enough resources to improve a few universities at a given time. Therefore some metric has to be taken into account, and just as IIX's are judged, hopefully something similar will happen ?
I fail to see the point of the Prof. Desiraju's article. Is he suggesting that it is a waste to make our universities better ? Or is he unhappy with the names that the govt is using ? Why does he think that the people of India expect a Ivy league school in a few years and therefore are being/ will be cheated ?
The snobbery exhibited by academic elites in India never stops suprising me !
yes, you are right. Prof. Desiraju is snobbish and does not tell what he expects the government to do. Just ranting in an article does not mean anything. Has he built an institute or even run an university or institute?
Being a noted scientist does not mean his policies and opinions on universities should be respected.
Both of the above anons are missing the point of Desiraju's article. His claim is that the mere labelling of some universities as navratnas does not make them great. On the other hand universities develop a perception of greatness about them by doing great research. This forced labelling is also a sleight of hand on the part of the government - while it has failed to elevate Indian universities to high standards, it is attempting to bestow an air of greatness on them by giving them lofty titles like "navratnas".
I am all for evaluating of universities and separating them into categories based on their quality. But I do not agree that this categorising is a substitute for improvement in quality.
@Ankur Kulkarni ..."it is attempting to bestow an air of greatness on them by giving them lofty titles like "navratnas".......
How would calling them navratnas bestow an air of greatness !!!!!!! Does a INI status bestow an air of greatness on IISc or is it famous because the achievements of its faculty and students ? Who cares what the names are (other than the likes of Prof Desiraju) ?
The govt notes were probably drafted by beauracrats and therefore silly things are mentioned. Those are besides the point. If the govt is committed to improving the standards of some universities, and if it makes a good start, that would be something to be happy about.
anon above,
This is precisely the point of ankur. Why try to label them without doing anything to improve the standards?
Government thinks pumping in money and remaining them alone is sufficient. It is not.
"Does a INI status bestow an air of greatness on IISc"
IISc is not an INI (institute of national importance).
http://www.education.nic.in/IHL/INSTITUTESNATIONALIMPORTANCE.pdf
Thanks
Giridhar
Sorry Prof Madras, IIT's and NIT's are, IISc is not. That does not make in my eyes IISc a less respected instititution !
"Government thinks pumping in money and remaining them alone is sufficient. It is not."
This is an entirely different argument and I would have been happy if that was the topic of discussion. If you argued that rather than throwing money at existing universities with their old baggage, starting new ones afresh would bring quicker results, that would also have been a matter of debate. But names .... ?
"Why try to label them without doing anything to improve the standards? " ..."Government thinks pumping in money and remaining them alone is sufficient. It is not."
The govt in its wisdom seems to have decided that to spend the money it needed a name. I agree thowing money is not the answer to everything. But at the same time I hope you will agree that it is the answer to something ! If the govt decided that they would spend X crores each year on these universitites these will not suddenly become IISc's (just as IIT (new) will not suddenly carry the same prestige as IIT (old) suddenly). Universities are badly underfunded. Money, academic freedom, oversight (list could go on and on) are needed to change this.
I do not know if the fixation with names has a cultural origin or a reflection of insecurity. Maybe if IISc was declared to be a navaratna and the new universities ratna, everybody would be happy :)
Dear Prof.,
I am very much interested in the management science department of IISC. However, I am not getting any reply from the Chairman or Registrar against my postal and electronic submission. I have over 13 years of corporate analysis experience with B.Tech from a leading NIT, MBA and also Phd from Mysore.My publications are in Indian Journals. Does IISC require a foreign stint to be mentioned in the candidates CV?Does it seek mandatory international publications? I am asking this because in the field of management it may be less competitive compared to other fields in iisc?
regards
DB
Hi Prof. Giridhar:
May you please throw some light on how to read the iCX graph mentioned in order to understand the comparison made?
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Prashant Sharma.
Would anyone like to comment on the quality of NET qualified students with students entering via institute specific tests/interviews ? Do institutes conduct tests because NET qualified students are not good enough because NET is not a good indicator of student quality ?
Thanks
TD
NET students are aa good base to choose folks but they are not comparable to GATE qualified folks in respect of their QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE.Institute must apply its own filter on the op of NET to select right candidates among the base of NET population.
DB
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