Research and Teaching at CF India Portal

Research and teaching feed each other, something no one denies. Teaching in a research ambience would be a motivating factor for young students to develop a culture of inquisitiveness and research in their career (in their life). But for several reasons, undergraduate teaching in a research ambience has not been popular in India.

Need of the hour is (it may sound cliché),

    * Examination-oriented education system to learning-oriented education system

    * Excite students to learn basic sciences

    * Motivate them to ask fundamental questions; Encourage creative thinking

    * Inter-disciplinary approach

In this context, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) have been set up with the primary goal to integrate high quality research with undergraduate teaching to improve science education in India and to enhance the number and quality of future researchers of the country. These institutes have been set up with generous funding.

Here, I list few important points that are critical for the successful integration of research and teaching, which needs to be discussed and the implementation of these ideas need careful planning. Most of these are being attempted at IISER Pune.

1. To ensure high-quality research and teaching, a healthy 80:20 ratio is to be maintained between research and teaching.

2. Key to good research and training is quality of the faculty selection. Faculty should be carefully chosen for their academicexcellence and teaching (and mentorship) proficiency. During faculty selection, great importance should be given to the originality of their research proposals. We need to ensure that research proposal of applicants is original rather than just a logical continuity of their PDF work. What we should look for is new and challenging idea. Past expertise and publications of faculty applicants should be used as an indication on their capability to handle such projects.

3. Curriculum-free learning process in undergraduate education. Teachers should explore with students “unknown” domains of knowledge rather than just imparting “facts” that are known and (anyway) available in all text-books and internet.

4. Emphasis in the classroom should be on concepts rather than on details. Students should be asked to read the details on their own to further strengthen their fundamentals.

5. Implementing research-based learning techniques in undergraduate education (for example, small open-ended experiments during lab hours, summer projects etc).

6. Involving PhD students and PDFs in undergraduate teaching programs.

We need to tighten our peer review system. We Indians often get into emotional bondage with our colleagues and “firing” or “performance-based incentive” is difficult to practice. At Pune, we have set up a International Academic Advisory Council that, we hope, would help us in maintaining academic performance our faculty