During his eight-year tenure as director of IIT-Bombay, professor Ashok Misra was known for enhancing research and innovation at the institute. Misra spoke to Mihika Basu before leaving for Bangalore to join Intellectual Ventures, a US-based private firm, on the challenges that lie ahead for India's IITs...
You are joining a private firm. Do you think
the best minds today are being taken away by the private
sector?
I had offers
earlier, too, from the private sector and could have accepted them.
However, I wanted to contribute to the IIT system, which I have
done. I had a-year-and-a-half left in my tenure, so I decided to do
something different. A few years down the line, I might not get
such a great opportunity. The public sector is losing some of its
best minds to the private sector due to better opportunities, pay
and emoluments, but such an exodus is not happening at the IITs,
primarily because of the opportunities that people get here in
terms of research and interaction with the best,
globally.
But would you agree that low remuneration is a
reason why educational institutes, including the IITs, are facing a
faculty crunch?
There's no doubt
that remuneration is low in educational institutions including the
IITs, but teachers compensate by engaging in other activities, like
consultancy research and continuing education programmes. At the
IITs, teachers are able to devote considerable time to research,
which may not be possible at other engineering institutes. In the
next three years, all IITs will see the student strength increasing
by 150%, and this requires simultaneous faculty recruitment and
infrastructure development. This is putting a lot of pressure on
the system, hence expansion has to be planned.
What challenges do the IITs
face?
There should have
been a more controlled expansion. All the IITs are practically
running the new ones and all of us started without a detailed
project report, which we are preparing now. The IITs have a huge
challenge in front of them to ensure that excellence isn't
compromised. Also, they have to ensure that the eight new IITs have
the same quality of faculty, but currently, the numbers are not
there. IIT-Bombay is the only one mentoring two new IITs, so we
shouldn't jump into the second one. I suggest that the
establishment of the second IIT be postponed by a year, but do it
in a planned way.
How long do you think the new IITs will take
to become as good as the mentors?
If we get the funds
and the people on time, it will take a minimum of 25 years. Even
the old IITs are expanding, so in 25 years, the new ones will have
to compete with those which have already completed 75
years.
Do you think IITs should be given more
autonomy than they currently enjoy?
Yes, I strongly
feel so. While we have academic autonomy in terms of selection of
courses, curriculum and research, there are certain restrictions
which shouldn't be there. Faculty reservations, for instance, is
something that all IITs don't favour. The human resources ministry
said it would re-think it, but the earlier order has not yet been
withdrawn.
Your advice to
IIT-Bombay?
IIT-Bombay should
strive to be in the top 10 globally over the next 10 next years.
For this, it will have to enhance research and innovation,
alongside maintaining high quality education.
Would you like to be associated with
IIT-Bombay in the future?
I would give back whenever I am asked to and in whatever capacity I can. IIT-Bombay has an active advisory council, which has played a crucial role in enhancing several programmes, including incubation. If the institute invites me to join the council, I would be happy to be a part of it.
