Majority of India's scientific and research institutions are stagnant and on "life support systems" due to lack of vigorous faculty recruitment and insufficient funding, a top scientist said.
And it's a matter of concern that many of them were collectively ageing, no longer being
attractive for students, and India's academic community needs to introspect looking for reasons for the slide, said Indian Institute of Science Bangalore Director Prof P Balaram.
He said faculty recruitment are generally slow, mainly because of financial reasons.
"Many universities (science and technology research institutions) are state universities. They don't have the money to meet the increased salary budget. So, although the institutions are kept alive, institutions are kept alive many times...May be on respirator rather than being healthy," Balaram told PTI in Bangalore in an interview.
He said to a great extent in India, the academic community needs to introspect a great deal. "They should ask the question: Are the institutions in which they are working very attractive for students? What's it that they are doing in order to make their institutions attractive for students?"
India, Balaram said, needed institutions which were very much student-centric because it was the students they were trying to attract.
"Many of our institutions tend to become top-heavy. They appear to be serving not so much for students but for management and administration. This question needs be asked of all institutions".