90% of students in India opt for colleges where there is little research: PSA Vijay Ragahvan
He further noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought science agencies together in an extraordinary manner.
Principal Scientific Advisor to Centre K VijayRagahvan has said that ninety per cent of students in the country go to colleges and universities where there is little research, which needs to be rectified. While addressing the CII Lifesciences Conclave, he stressed that there is a need for the industry and science agencies to work together.
He further noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought science agencies together in an extraordinary manner.
"The country's research ecosystem has a robust spread-out -- the Department of Biotechnology, Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR), Department of Science Technology, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) -- which is "absolutely mind-boggling," he added.
These institutes have enormous intellectual, material and other infrastructure resources and these capabilities have to be leveraged, he said. Similarly, there are nearly 70-75 central universities and hundreds of state and private universities across the country.
"Ninety per cent of the research support goes to those laboratories where 10 per cent of our students go. Ninety per cent of our students go to universities/colleges where there is little research. Yet, they are literally just a stone's throw away from the best places of research and this is something that has to be rectified," the official said.
If all agencies partner, the national lab network of resources can be available both to the industry and to these colleges and universities, VijayRaghavan suggested.
Other countries are also trying this, but they will not be trying it on the scale that is possible in India because of its population and network of laboratories that can be connected, he said.
"This is something we must embark on," he stressed.
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