INDIA: Higher education opportunities lure back talent

More young Indians are giving up fat pay packets in companies abroad to take up teaching in Indian higher education institutions - a trend that could help ease a severe shortage of quality lecturers in the country.

The expansion of higher education is a major reason behind a reverse brain drain as Indian academics decide to return. India has opened eight new Institutes of Technology (IITs), 12 central universities and three Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) in the last two years.

The opportunity to work in one's own country, job insecurity abroad and increasing research funding are also luring back talent, despite a drop in salary which young academics say is balanced by greater academic freedom and better working conditions.

Sitting on the sprawling greens of IIT Delhi, brothers Rahul, 36, and Vinay Joseph Ribeiro, 33, look completely at home. Both are engineers who went to the US for further studies and are now working as assistant professors at IIT Delhi.

Having worked as a marine engineer for a few years, Rahul joined Texas A&M University and had no plans to come back to India soon. "I wanted to work in biomedical sciences," says Rahul, a PhD in materials science and engineering. "I have ambitious plans and want to develop material that can replace tissues in the body."

Then one day he saw an IIT Delhi advertisement for faculty positions, recorded his application through a presentation and sent it. A telephonic interview later he was in.

"Both IIT Delhi and the industry will help me in my research. While the institution gives me freedom to work, the industry has come up in a big way to support my work financially," says Rahul.

Vinay adds: "India has changed so much. There is a positive attitude in people now. There is a lot of scope for research that we couldn't have imagined during our BTech years. Moreover, the students are very bright and teaching is quite a pleasure."

Better opportunities

Manoj Kumar, 36, a biotechnology and genetic engineering specialist, left his job at a research laboratory in Victoria, Australia, to join Jalandhar's Lovely Professional University (LPU) five months ago. He cites three reasons for his move: economic instability in Australia, the fear of losing his job and better opportunities in India.

"The education sector [in India], especially the private sector, is imbibing corporate culture," says Kumar, who spent nearly five years in Australia as an assistant professor. He says his salary in India is "quite exciting", though not on par with his previous job.

For students such as Neelanchal Vaid, a fourth-semester engineering student at LPU, faculty members with international teaching experience bring practical knowledge to the classroom: "I am a biotechnology student and Kumar with his R&D background helped me to get an in-depth understanding of a few subjects."

Academics such as Sitaram Rao Yechury, 44, an associate professor of electrical and electronic engineering at Sharda University in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, believe many Indian scholars enjoy returning to a "better social life" and the chance to participate in institution-building.

Education experts from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and Ernst and Young say hiring such faculty members also helps institutes build a brand name and allows students to benefit from their wider experience.

"Sure, these faculty bring quality teaching and international exposure for students. But it also helps the branding of the institutes through their names," says Shobha Mishra Ghosh, director of Ficci's education wing.

A slowdown in higher education sectors abroad is also luring back young Indians to teach at centres of excellence across the country. The eight newly established IITs have received a large number of applications from Indians abroad, many from young post-doctoral candidates.

"Many young Indians who went abroad to do a post doc do not have permanent faculty positions. We have also received applications from senior faculty members who have lost their jobs," says MK Surappa, Director of IIT Ropar.

Of 20 academic posts filled at IIT Ropar, 10 of the lecturers previously worked abroad. At least 30% of job applications received by IIT Hyderabad are from Indians studying or working abroad.

Lower salaries are balanced by greater freedom to research and improved working conditions, say young academics.

"There is a huge difference in salary. Moreover, industry in India pays at least five times the salary that we get in academia," says Niloy Mitra, of the department of computer science and engineering at IIT Delhi.

"But now it is possible to get research grants and the teaching load is easier than in the West," says Mitra, who did his masters at Stanford University in the US and went on to obtain a PhD from Technical University in Vienna.

Growing demand

According to the Education Ministry, India has 472 universities, 22,000 colleges and thousands of other technical institutions. The number of colleges and technical institutions has increased by nearly 25% in the last five years.

Officials say the country will need 800 more universities and nearly 32,000 more college-level institutions in the next 10 years. Around 12 million students in the 18-24 age group are pursuing higher education in India and the number is expected to rise to 42 million by 2020, the ministry says.

There is no official estimate of the number of teachers India will need by 2020. But a rough estimate that IITs use is that the country will need around 4.2 million lecturers to teach 42 million students at the higher educational level.

With a serious shortage of lecturers and demand for more growing rapidly, institutions are increasingly casting recruitment nets abroad, in search of Indian scholars in the diaspora.

Wooing young talent

India's education department set up a committee in July to attract quality teachers to the higher education sector. The committee will try to set up a national corps of research fellows and encourage the concept of 'roaming professors' - academics who have no fixed tenure in one university but spend time in various institutions depending on the needs of faculties.

It was decided in a round-table chaired by Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal that the committee would also ask higher education institutions to offer awards to deserving academics to make the profession attractive.

The ministry will set up a research park in collaboration with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, where academics will conduct research alongside industries. State-run institutions have tried to attract academics by issuing standing advertisements throughout the year for faculty positions.

Many IITs have instituted 'outstanding young faculty fellowships', whereby faculty can get Rs 100,000 (US$2,165) per year research grants for a period of five years. IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay have tied up with alumni to fund research fellowships.

Accommodation is provided and government institutions help faculty settle in by assisting with gas connections, school admissions for children and other perks.

Private institutions are not far behind.

In the past two years Sharda University has hired nearly 25 faculty members of Indian origin and expatriates (five of them foreigners). This year, it has sent out offer letters to another 60, says PK Gupta, Chancellor of the university.

"Looking at the economic crisis in some countries in the West, we believe many of them will join us by year-end," says Gupta.

He says the university offers US$5,000 to $6,000 a month to faculty members of Indian origin who join as associate professors. Indian professors with no international exposure earn around 40% less.


Comment:

This is a very good article. In fact India and various states of India offer good opportunities in the education sector. One should look at this data.

Ravi Shankur