Declining Trend in Science Education and Research in Indian Universities

Universities are knowledge based organizations whose functions are largely confined to teaching and research. They are designed to operate to discover and disseminate knowledge by possessing significant and relevant expertise in all disciplines. India has a very vast structure of education and its higher education sector is now highly advanced, compared to its neighboring countries. The vast network of state funded Indian universities appears to be sinking into a state, where academic performance both in teaching and research become partially marginalized. Erudition and scholarship are no longer pre-requisites for advancement through academic ranks. Research both in science and the humanities, gets back the backseat and mediocrity has become glorified. A regressive trend has been observed in the past few years in science education in universities. Science seems to be losing out to other disciplines, particularly the professional courses in attracting students. The recent trend observed in secondary and tertiary education sectors is toward non science courses. Inadequacies in the policies of the government, negligence of its importance by political parties and social organizations, etc., have accelerated the decline. The widespread impression among students is that unlike professional courses, a career in basic science is not lucrative. Universities have long abandoned the accent on research and have become mere teaching centers. Research aptitude in students is not properly developed during their course of study. Their curriculum is neither research oriented nor updated. For many reasons majority of teachers with doctoral degrees in science are unwilling to undertake research projects or collaborative research. The academic ambience persisting in many universities do not encourage the research pursuits of faculties. Research management in universities is another very serious problem faced by many Indian universities. Careful analysis of the situation is necessary for elucidation of this trend and finding effective strategies for strengthening science education. An extensive study was made to establish the nature of science education of the Indian universities and the current trend. The study focused on the following topics. • Policies and practices existing in the higher education sector • Analysis of the pattern of enrolment in science degree programmes in Indian universities • Centrally and state funded universities and their academic performance • Quality assessment mechanism • The central funding schemes in research and their distribution among universities and research institutions