Careers360 World-class universities: What can India learn? | Page 20

Global

Nobel Prizes
World class universities produce
persons of high recognition with
honours such as Nobel Laureates,
Fields medalists, national and
international awardees and fellowships of prestigious academies.
Such universities become sought
after destinations both to students
and faculty who are willing to
innovate, experiment and evolve
in an atmosphere of unlimited
autonomy and academic freedom
Prof. JAK Sareen

Former Vice Chancellor,
Pondicherry University

Columbia
University

Universit
of Chicago

Stanford
University

18

18

Massachusetts
Institute of
Technology (MIT)

18

21

University of
Cambridge

18

29

Harvard
University

University of
California,
Berkeley

17
16

35

10

California
Institute of
Technology

Princeton
University

University
of Oxford

Source: www.nobelprize.org (affiliation at the time of grant)

Column | G Vishwanathan

What should the Government Do
to get world class institutions
world, the government needs to accord
highest priority to the following aspects.

Q

uality higher education plays a significant role in shaping the future
of a nation, and the world. Ranking of
universities has become a yardstick for
assessing the quality of higher education. It is distressing to note that Indian universities do not figure in the top
200 universities of the world despite
the large number of universities in our
country. Government should significantly increase budgetary allocation for
higher education. If our universities are
to feature in the top universities of the

Research & Publications: Research
is the most important criterion for universities to become world class. Government should increase funding for
research by a significant proportion.
When required funds are available to
fuel research activities, our universities
will emerge as strongholds for research
and development. Subsequently, the
quantity and quality of publications will
increase. This will ultimately lead us in
our march towards attaining top ranks
for our universities.
Patents: Universities should evolve as
powerhouses of patents. High quality
research results in developing patents.

51

Careers

360

January 2014

This can happen when there are abundant funding opportunities. Hence,
government needs to financially help
universities in the patent filing process.
Internationalization: This is inevitable in the wake of liberalization and
globalization. Present-day universities
prepare students to face a world without borders and barriers. If this has to
happen, student and faculty mobility
should be the driving factors. For this,
government policies on visa should be
conducive to free mobility. Funds for
international travel and research opportunities should be generously available
for faculty and student exchange.
(The author is the Chancellor of
VIT University, Vellore)