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The future of research: Less than 2 per cent of world has PhD; India ranks 4th in doctoral graduates produced
Updated Jun 3, 2022, 02:30 IST
PhD is the highest educational degree world over .
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Does india need more phd holders.
Dr Krishna Athal
Dr Krishna is the CEO of the NAA. He writes and talks about leadership, coaching, strategy, entrepreneurship, management, and decision-making. He is a recipient of numerous na tional and international leadership and innovation awards. LESS ... MORE
Higher education and research have risen to the centre of worldwide economic growth discussions. Governments recognise that more highly qualified individuals with technical and professional abilities must have a knowledge-based economy in a post-industrial world. Thus, PhD education is gaining more importance as PhD graduates reflect cumulative human capital to contribute significantly to a country’s growth. But does a country like India need more PhD holders?
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree is the top of academic achievement and the most prestigious doctorate. The holder of this degree is recognised as an independent researcher, an expert with in-depth knowledge of the chosen field of study, and a professional with a diverse set of transferrable abilities. Consequently, PhD graduates can contribute to understanding and influencing social change.
PhD usually takes three to four years full-time or five to six years part-time. This may be realised through increasing others’ knowledge, performing various jobs that help society, applying gained skills to research projects, boosting the performance of work colleagues, and generating breakthroughs in research. Doctor or Professor are not simply prefixes. They are titles of incredible honour and acknowledge a person’s valued contribution to the research field. In India, having a PhD and holding the titles of Doctor or Professor are sources of great pride and respectability. It is considered the pinnacle of academic achievements.
The current PhD situation in India
There is a mad rush for PhDs in India, with the total number of doctorates having reached a high of 24,000 in all disciplines in 2017 from just a few dozens in 1920. While these numbers show that India is currently one the countries having the most doctorate scholars, India has too few students enrolled in doctoral programmes, considering the large size of its population and higher education sector. The All-India Survey on Higher Education data for 2017-18 showed that out of 36.6 million Indian students enrolled in higher education programmes, only 161,412 were enrolled in a PhD programme.
However, the number has increased compared to previous years. 2017 showed more than twice the number of enrolments in 2010. This may be attributed to the increase in PhD-awarding institutions in India from 326 in 2000 to 912 in 2017. The University Grants Commission and the Department of Science and Technology stipulated that the number of science PhD graduates increased threefold during the same period. PhD holders in India usually aim for academic careers at public universities and research organisations since they offer outstanding salaries, job security, research opportunities and respectability.
Nevertheless, the supply of PhDs in India has currently outstripped its demand. The job market for PhD holders in India is exceptionally challenging for any field, including the science field. Nowadays, 2000 out of the 6000 people granted science PhDs annually in India cannot find decent jobs. The number of job opportunities available in academia has shrunk considerably since new public universities such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) or Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) have already recruited massive numbers over the last decade. Now, these recruiters receive more than 250 applications per academic position.
PhD holders do not even consider alternate employment due to the less attractive prospects. Private colleges and universities often offer meagre salaries and no research opportunities. As a result, nowadays, Indian students choose to pursue postdoctoral fellowships either in their home country or overseas. Also, with the shortage of job opportunities for PhD graduates in India, they have no choice but to extend their job search beyond just India, which has led to a ‘brain drain’ where the country is losing its talents to others.
The Way Forward
What India needs is not more PhD holders but attractive job opportunities to match its present ‘overwhelming’ supply of PhD holders. Academia is the preferred career field for PhD graduates due to several industries’ inadequate ability to absorb highly trained personnel. To create more job openings in academia, the Indian Government decided to sponsor the Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) programme in 2011. The programme provided a five-year contract for research fellowships, a generous salary and independent research opportunities with the research funding to boot. It aimed at building the required critical human resource pool for strengthening and expanding the science and technology systems and R&D base in India. Alas, INSPIRE has already amassed several criticisms about the lack of job opportunities at the host universities, the lateness in the release of grants and the mistreatment of programme members relative to other faculty members.
Many argue that the quality and quantity of doctorates produced in a country determines the health of its research ecosystem. India does not need to increase its number of PhDs but rather the quality of its PhDs. Since jobs in academia are few and filled rather quickly, PhDs and post-doctorates need to develop other skill sets that allow them to find employment in business incubators, industry, journalism, and patent offices. Besides, while the number of PhD holders has increased over in India, it should be noted that the number of students enrolled in doctoral programmes at credible institutions where students need to carry out credible research and write dissertations based on actual research without plagiarism and fabrication, is relatively low at no more than 10-20% of the total. That’s why India’s research ecosystem is lacking behind compared to other countries. This further emphasises India’s need to increase the quality of its doctoral programmes. To do so, the UGC must put firm requirements for institutions to be considered a teaching/research institution, considering that not all universities with post-graduate departments deserve such recognitions.
It is undeniable that economies have gotten significantly more innovative. For instance, most industrially advanced economies, including the United States, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and the European Union, have self-sufficient researchers who propel their respective countries’ industrial progress. India has failed to succeed in the manufacturing sector, the weakest link in its developmental index, owing to a lack of skilled, cohesive labour. Despite having comparable political systems, India has trailed far behind in creating local researchers, which has hampered infrastructure construction, resulting in delayed progress in delivering decent sanitary facilities, drinkable water, power, and roads to its population. Therefore, producing more PhD holders will enable India to boost the country’s industrial growth, as local researchers will be able to provide innovative and cost-effective technologies.
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PhD, research and its upshot: How much quality do we produce?
The phd (doctor of philosophy), or the doctoral degree, is considered the highest educational degree in the world. india is ranked fourth globally, producing slightly over 24,000 doctoral graduates each year. but it still lacks quality research..
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A PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) is theoretically the highest educational degree all over the world. Also known as a doctoral degree, a PhD can be awarded to one after a master's or even an MPhil. A PhD enables a person to use the title ‘doctor’. The PhD research programme is supposed to aim to produce graduates who would contribute to the body of knowledge in their specific fields of study and develop innovative, theory-based, systematic, and practical solutions to the significant concerns of specific issues. Though it is challenging, it is also rewarding.
As per the most recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report, less than 2 per cent of the world's population has a doctorate degree today. According to the US Census Bureau, only 1.2 per cent of the US population has a PhD, whereas Slovenia and Switzerland have the highest percentage of the population with a doctorate, at 5 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively. India stands tall in the number of doctoral graduates produced on a yearly basis, according to the recently released OECD report. Producing slightly over 24,000 doctoral graduates, India is ranked fourth against the USA, which produces 68,000 graduates and tops the list. An All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) report from 2019 revealed that the number of PhD degrees awarded has increased by 60 per cent in the last five years. The total PhD admissions increased manifold in the last few years from 1,26,451 in 2015-16 to 2,02,550 in 2019-20. A total of 38,986 students were awarded PhD degrees in 2019, which includes 21,577 male and 17,409 female candidates. 2,881 students enrolled in Integrated PhD programmes, in addition to 2.02 lakh students who enrolled in PhD degrees.
READ | UGC allows extension of up to 6 months for submission of MPhil or PhD thesis
WHY DO PEOPLE OPT FOR A PHD?
Is research necessary in everyday life.
Research is a tool for building knowledge and facilitating learning. It's a means to comprehend issues and increase public awareness. It helps to flourish in business and gauge opportunities. It allows to invalidate lies and support the justifiable truths. Research also develops confidence in many ways such as reading, writing, analysing, and sharing valuable new information and knowledge through nourishment and mind exercise. It is required not just for students, research scholars and academics, but for all professionals and nonprofessionals alike, to determine what the general public may want to know or what researchers want others to realise or think critically about. Thus, research is an indispensable component in producing knowledge. Through research, people get the latest reliable knowledge, build credibility, help in narrowing down the scope and introduce newer ideas, inculcate better judgement and problem-solving capacity, and finally, it can help one reach the common man by providing the best solution to societal problems. Therefore, research is the most reliable way to understand and act on the complexities of various issues faced by human beings from time to time.
DOES RESEARCH HELP HUMANKIND?
Every kind of information is important to humankind and it should be known and available to all. People should be aware of what is happening in and around the world. Research exists for humankind because it helps in understanding our society, culture, ethics, life choices, and newer developments, whether scientific or technological.
READ | Banaras Hindu University launches 'Teach for BHU' scheme to engage PhD students in teaching
Research in education has a very vigorous role to play because it is supposed to provide a systematic analysis, observation, and prediction and development of new theories, models and principles. It also initiates a learning-teaching atmosphere and expands the decision-making process, brings uniformity and motivates others if it confirms the right facts and figures. So, through research, overall improvements of an individual is possible, which ultimately leads to the development of humankind.
From the above argument, it is very clear that PhD research has its dependability and importance in education, especially when we speak about educational institutions. But, in today’s scenario, PhD research is not looked at as intellectual development. Rather, it is done for the sake of doing to earn a degree. That's because a serious methodology is not justified or rationalised and no newness and indigenous knowledge are produced through new models or theories. Therefore, the question is, how robust or actual is our PhD research?
Though research is compulsory in PhD, scholars often do not select or explore tough or new areas. They rather select an ‘easy-going’ area, problem or issue. It is also observed that in India, most PhD findings are not so good, with no newness in knowledge production. Why is indigenous knowledge through PhD research lacking in India? Why does India lack in quality research? That's the million-dollar question today in the intellectual arena, even though we know the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 talks about promoting Indic knowledge through indigenous empirical study.
THE WAY FORWARD?
At the very outset, I must say that quality should not be compromised in PhD research and that favouritism should be stopped at the entry level. Sometimes, preference is given to family members or friends, or to someone who comes with a recommendation from the higher authorities. This must stop. We must also have strong guidelines, both qualitative and quantitative, for an analytical entrance examination because multiple-choice questions in PhD admission are not enough to adjudicate a good scholar who might be a future faculty. UGC scholarship can be fixed to up to 4 years, and scholars must complete their PhD within the 4-year time. Because longer time does not guarantee quality research, and there is no scientific proof of it. I personally feel 4 years is enough for completing a quality PhD in social sciences. My personal Technical Suggestive Model is that the first year should be coursework and examination. the second year should be for tools development, pilot study and data collection. the third year should be thesis writing, while the fourth year should be for going back to the field (respondents) again to re-analyse those findings and outcomes for the development of new models and theories, that can then be presented at a seminar or journaled for exclusive rights or patent. I feel it will be the only way to produce new models and indigenous theories or Indic knowledge in India.
Also, let's look at the scholarship perspective. A one-year reduction means UGC will accumulate more than Rs 4 lakh from a scholar in a year. Imagine the amount of money that can be accumulated in total, and utilised further for organisational support for scholars in case of need in future — for example, a welfare or research organisation to work for a cause. Also, the money can be utilised for free schooling and scholarships for orphan children, and disabled students who lost their parents during the Covid-19 pandemic. Think seriously and realistically, and you may not disagree with me.
As per a Hindustan Times report, dated March 17, 2022, the draft UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of PhD Degree) Regulations, 2022, has proposed several changes, including making undergraduates who have been in the four-year programme with a minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 7.5 eligible for PhD admissions, and also removing the mandatory requirement of having the research paper published before the submission of the thesis. It could sooner or later compromise the quality of research. Even continuous changes of regulations may confuse and complicate things for the research scholars. I feel UGC should have long-term — maybe 10 years — robust procedural research regulations and then continuously monitor and evaluate to see the gaps, if any, along with proper checks and balances regarding quality publication.
READ | Jamia Millia Islamia PhD admissions from April 1 to 30: Know details
I sense educational institutions must admit only those students in PhD programmes who have a passion for research and rationality in the area, or want to work at the grass-root level with people’s issues and problems, not mediocre nor having UGC NET/JRF only.
Another observation is that rejection of thesis is very few in India, though it is written in the evaluation form. Let’s have an evaluation system that is very confidential. Supervisors often take advantage by giving the external evaluators names of a known person to easily complete the evaluation without any critical analysis of the thesis. I call it biases in the evaluation system. So, a strict system of evaluation should be developed after examining the areas of expertise of the examiners, even if it is an international examiner. There is a saying in India that thesis submission means it is done. This notion has to be changed now.
I always feel that PhD scholars should be given teaching opportunities at least a few times every semester, as a teacher's assistant or research faculty, to develop their interest in teaching and enrich their teaching capability and competence. Research ethics need to be strictly followed from admissions to submissions in the name of truth and scientific integrity, fairness, social responsibility, and validation of data. So, a culture of research has to be developed.
Strategic planning needs to be developed that can work on academic freedom and flexibility. Centralised planning for quality research has to be given priority as it is limited in India. Industry-partnership building for collaboration and research should be a must because this approach is well known and very successful in Australia and other countries. Strong research infrastructure through international journals, magazines, computing and networking infrastructure, and international collaboration through a Memorandum of understanding (MOU) is also desirable. An E-Research Unit can be introduced like Australia, and Support for Intellectual Property (IP) Management and its commercialisation for filing patents and protecting them should be reinforced. Classic research is not re-visiting or replicating, we have only an exemplar or paradigm of research. Therefore, replication of these classic research is possible when there will be revisiting of those extensively — from a set of examples to an extensive set up of replication of studies, which would help verify replicability criteria of the scientific method that is missing.
The very concept of category by Aristotle and other philosophers now needs to be redefined because it requires certain qualifications and justifications. Because we see that deciding a category does not adhere now. Therefore, researchers are being trapped or following the existing categories available in the literature, which has a gap, yet it has been accepted by many scholars. Today we must develop not only 'helping tools' but also more ‘knowledge tools’ because every social science subject should have their own knowledge tools used in research. Whatever we have now, is old, and indigenous and empirical knowledge tools need to be developed more. A single window system from a research governance perspective, like the passport seva, needs to be developed for a smooth procedural facet of research in India. More academic writing in research must be done and teaching jobs and promotions in teaching should be done based on quality research now.
Finally, impact on society through PhD research has to be ensured, and a rewards system should be introduced for faculty and scholars encouraging them towards quality research, both at national and international levels. Only then can we achieve a level of quality in our research in India, which then would be able to compete at an international level.
(Prof. Sanjoy Roy, Department of Social Work, University of Delhi) READ | IIT Roorkee enrolls female candidates under SAKUNTALA Fellowship for full time PhD programme Published By: Namrata Agarwal Published On: Jun 2, 2022 --- ENDS ---
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