87.Research , Full time Or Part-time?

In the  80s and later, those  who go for full time  research in engineering were  very few  directly  after  doing M.Tech  or B.Tech. The reason  obviously was  that most  of them could get reasonably good  jobs. After all, majority  of the youngsters in our country  study  to get a  good job and settle  in life rather  than go on a lifetime search for acquiring  knowledge and uncover  the unknown. When  I was  doing  my M.Tech  in I.I.T. Madras(1973) and PhD in I.I.T. Delhi(1978-81) in spite  of being the  highest  national institutes of learning, there  were  very few researchers  who continued immediately after their  Masters.  Even those  who join, will be preparing to write the competitive examinations  for IAS, IES etc  during  the first year  staying in the  hostel and drawing  the research scholarship  as  subsistence allowance. Stay   in the  hostel is  for nominal rent and good food at reasonable rates were incentives  for the same. Living in big cities  outside the  academic institutions will be very expensive and many youngsters somehow get into these institutions in the  pretext of doing research. If the  state  of affairs in I.I.Ts are  like  this, think of the condition of remotely located  institutions  like N.I.Ts. Moreover, the research  scholarship  amount at that time  was not very attractive, but later this amount  has been increased several times and now a  full-time scholar  can get  almost  the  same amount  or   more  than the salary he can get in a private  engineering college  at  entry  level as Assistant Professor. Nowadays, research fellowships during the  first year  itself is more Rs.30,000/ month.

Because  of these  reasons  in the  early stages  of N.I.Ts, not many full-time scholars  used  to join  in engineering  departments. Many of those  who joined  were teachers working in other engineering colleges. Some of them must have  taken  three  years  leave with or without salary and joined  for research. Government of India had introduced  two schemes  for improving the quality  of teachers in engineering  colleges by offering a  additional stipend  for teachers  selected under these schemes and were being paid full salary from the   parent institutions.  One is called Quality  Improvement Programme(QIP)  for engineering teachers and the other, Faculty Improvement Programme (FIP) for Science teachers. Selection  to these  schemes  were  a little difficult as the number of seats was limited but once selected  to an institution where  these schemes are available ( approved as  QIP Centres or FIP centres), the   research scholars  will be eligible  to get  full salary and a stipend   for  compensating for dislocation  from their original  residence. Those  who were  deputed for higher studies  under these schemes  had to sign a bond to serve the institution for a minimum period equal to the duration of the course. The facility  of getting salary and stipend  together  was available to Government and Aided Colleges under the Directorate of Technical Education only. Many  of the  private colleges  under the self-financing category will depute their teachers  under this scheme, but  very rarely they used to give full salary   to them. At the most, the sponsored teachers will be given a certificate  that they are being paid salary, a few  may give a nominal amount or yet another group will  guarantee  a job once they return after  acquiring the higher degree.  

Another  method  of doing PhD is to do part time research without taking leave  from the  parent institution. Most  of them  are teachers  in private engineering colleges. The  average workload  per week will be around 20 hours or more and doing research along with this work load is not easy. Calicut university had a provision for doing  research on part time basis. The only restriction was that the student should register under a recognised guide of the  university. When  NIT  was formed, many of the  part time scholars  under Calicut University  were transferred to NITC. In addition, more part time students had joined  in the  first few years. Many of these  research scholars had been   registered scholars  for several years without showing any significant progress in the research.  Most  of them were  not able to do research on a regular basis because  of their heavy work load and other commitments. Whenever  they get  some leave  or holidays, they thought  they could do something. Research requires sustained efforts on a regular basis. It cannot thrive as an occasional exercise.   A research scholar has to spend at least an hour or two everyday for  the research and a disciplined approach is essential for doing significant work. Very few  of the part-time scholars could  complete their work  and get their degree and even those who could complete would take 7-8 years  for completion. Even if done, the quality  work used to be quite inferior.

In NITC, research students  had to study  4  or more  subjects as   course work, along with  regular  M.Tech courses or as PhD  self-study courses. They have  to get a minimum  GPA of 6.5 / 10 in the course work. For  completing this coursework and the  comprehensive examinations to make  sure that the scholar has adequate  preparation for doing research, at least  one year  will be required. So, even for  part-time scholars, minimum one-year  institutional stay  was essential.  After  the satisfactory  completion of course work , the scholar  can return to their parent  institution and continue their work if facilities are available  there. At  the  end of each semester the scholars  have  to present  the work done to the guide and their Doctoral Committee and  get a  ‘satisfactory progress’  for registration in the  beginning of the  next semester.

   When I joined as Dean, there  were  large  number  of part time scholars in NITC. Many of them had done practically  nothing as research except paying the fees  to the  institute every semester. They will  prepare  something half hazard and present it before the Doctoral Committee, just   for getting their registration done. This, I thought, cannot be allowed and  I was  of the  strong opinion that  those  who have done practically nothing even after three years  or so may be advised  to discontinue  or show  marked progress within a semester. Even some of our colleagues in the department   without PhD had  registered as part time scholars and were struggling  to meet  the  necessary requirements and show  progress. As  PhD  degree  became the  minimum qualification  to become a professor  as per AICTE scales of pay, there  was a frantic  struggle to get  a PhD degree  somehow and this resulted  in many untoward actions  from these  part time scholars. Some of these  unfortunate incidents will be  reported  in the  next episode.